The appointment of South Korea’s new Unification Minister, Nam Joo-hong has been announced and Robert Koehler of course has the scoop on him:
Secondly, is Nam really that hardline? Actually, yes. The good professor is known as a security expert, so he’s likely to view the North and intra-Korean relations through the prism of national security. And as you can see from the comments quoted above, he’s been a constant critic of the Sunshine Policy, and is a pessimist about the six-party talks. During a symposium in December 2006, he said, “The North Korean leadership will not give up its nuclear card until the regime and system collapses… We must prepare for the six-party talks to fail and completely reconsider the policy of engagement with North Korea from the starting point.”
He’s not an optimist about peaceful reunification, either — in 2006, he wrote a book entitled, “There is No Reunification,” although he explained today that meant, “There will be no ‘quick reunification.’” I don’t know — I didn’t read it. Still, it’s kind of amusing that a guy who penned such a title would now become unification minister. He has, however, talked (and written) quite a bit about the need to prepare for North Korea collapsing.
He has a lot more so go read the rest if you haven’t already. One Free Korea is of course quite happy with the appointment of the new minister and I’m just happy at least there is someone in charge of the Unification Ministry now that won’t claim there is "no concrete evidence of human rights violations in the North", or standing up and clap for North Korean child abuse, as well as trying to give away Korean territory that ROK military personnel died defending. I also like the fact that Nam believes that South Korea needs to prepare for a North Korean collapse. This is something that both the United States and South Korea are ill prepared for, so it is good to see people in both countries preparing for this inevitability.
One other thing that is quite clear with this announcement, is that after 10 years the Sunshine Policy is officially dead.
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Second, if Nam Joo-hong gets the job it will be by default. He was to be a cabinet officer without portfolio and only the negotiations to keep the Unification Ministry FORCED him into the position of being the defacto minister appointee.
Third, if the Unification Ministry does survive into the new Lee administration, Nam Joo-hong’s job will be as the hatchet man to dissassemble the place and bring it down to one office with three departments — leaving mostly administrative jobs in the place. Then later on it will be quietly disposed of… SOB!!! SOB!!!
With bloody knife still in hand, Nam Joo-hong will smile at the DPRK negotiators and call them “brothers” and pour tea for them to have some friendly talks with the FOREIGN MINISTRY with him as an advisor — sort of like a National Security Advisor in the US.