North Korea has unilaterally postponed the reunions of family members separated by the Korean War. Last Saturday, a spokesman for North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement that the country would put off the family reunions scheduled to take place at Mt. Geumgang starting September 25th. North Korea accused conservatives in South Korea of abusing all inter-Korean talks and negotiations as a means of seeking confrontation with the North. Accordingly, the South Korean staff who had been discussing details about the reunions with North Korean officials, including accommodations, all withdrew from Mt. Geumgang the following day. Dr. Hong Hyeon-ik at the Sejong Institute speculates that Pyongyang unilaterally postponed the event as a sign of displeasure with the planned inter-Korean talks on the resumption of the Mt. Geumgang tour program.





The South Korean government made it clear that the issue of the family reunions is separate from the resumption of the Mt. Geumgang tour business. Seoul then suggested that the two sides hold talks to discuss the tour issue on October 2nd, but the North has not responded to the proposal. The North Korean leadership seems to have predicted that it would not be easy to actually restart the suspended tour program even if the inter-Korean negotiations were held in early October. So, North Korea may have concluded that it wouldn’t be necessary to hold the family reunions. It is generally believed that the Park Geun-hye government in South Korea has taken the lead in addressing inter-Korean issues for the last three or four months, including the normalization of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and the family reunion events. I think the North Korean leadership was determined not to be dragged by South Korea anymore and therefore abruptly put off the family reunions.



North Korea also delayed inter-Korean talks on the reopening of the Mt. Geumgang tourist resort scheduled for October 2nd. The North argued that conservatives in the South are insulting the inter-Korean joint tour program by calling it a cash cow for North Korea. In addition, North Korea blamed Seoul for suppressing pro-unification figures. The North was apparently referring to the recent arrest of a leftist lawmaker in South Korea. Pyongyang also argued that the joint South Korea-U.S. military drill known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian that was conducted in August fueled confrontation between the two Koreas. But experts say that these are not major reasons for putting off the reunions.





Regarding the arrest of South Korean lawmaker Lee Seok-ki, North Korea says he belongs to a political party that is most active in promoting inter-Korean dialogue. The North says his arrest is therefore a negative move to seek confrontation with North Korea, not a move to improve inter-Korean relations. Also, North Korea criticizes that the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military drill in August involved strategic bomber jets. The Rodong Sinmun newspaper said on Tuesday that the South Korean government brought in U.S. strategic bombers to stoke inter-Korean confrontation. That is, North Korea accuses Seoul of seeking dialogue and family reunions, while at the same time pursuing confrontation. However, what the South Korean government wants is to normalize inter-Korean ties in accordance with common sense and international standards. Such criticism by North Korea is more about its discontent with little progress in resuming South Korean tours to Mt. Geumgang.



Inter-Korean relations have faced a setback yet again, due to North Korea’s unilateral decision to put off the family reunions. Some are worried that the recent development might affect the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, which has just begun to operate after many ups and downs. Fortunately, the joint industrial park has been operating normally so far. Despite its abrupt decision, North Korea never mentions the industrial complex. The same is true of South Korea. So, the two sides are apparently handling the industrial park project separately from other issues. Dr. Hong predicts that North Korea will not break its promise as far as the industrial complex is concerned, considering that the country badly wanted the reactivation of the factory park.





I don’t think the industrial park will be directly affected. It was suspended for about five months after North Korea’s unilateral decision to withdraw its workers from the complex. As a result, North Korea suffered a serious loss. Now, it is well aware of the situation. So, it is unlikely that North Korea will do any harm to the industrial park. Although the complex has started its operation again, South and North Korea will still have to agree on a number of issues, including passage, communications and customs, guaranteeing the safety of South Korean workers, and the industrial park’s globalization. Inevitably, negotiations over these matters will be influenced negatively by North Korea’s recent attitude. South Korean manufacturers doing business at the industrial park are also concerned that the delayed family reunions may have a negative impact on their credibility when receiving orders to operate other factories.



The Seoul government expressed regret over North Korea’s unexpected attitude, calling the decision an inhumane act of deeply hurting the separated families. The Unification Ministry in Seoul urged Pyongyang to hold the reunions promptly, saying that delaying the event for political problems cannot be justified by any reason. But North Korea continues to denounce Seoul, as it says the Park Geun-hye government’s principled policy toward North Korea is the basic factor to drive inter-Korean ties to the point of collapse. Some are worried that inter-Korean relations may undergo a cold spell again. But North Korea has previously asked for the delay of family reunions about five times due to domestic reasons. Given this, some experts predict that North Korea will not postpone the event forever.





A very similar situation occurred back in 2004. At the time, North Korea stopped the family reunions for a year, citing chilly inter-Korean relations. In July 2006, even when inter-Korean relations were quite smooth, North Korea also declared a halt to the family reunions and the construction of a reunion center at Mt. Geumgang, taking issue with Seoul’s refusal to provide rice and fertilizer to the North during the inter-Korean ministerial talks. But a delay doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be impossible to hold the reunions again. The reunions did take place in two or six months in some cases. This time, too, I think the reunions can possibly resume. The Kim Jong-un regime in North Korea now focuses on economic revival. The North Korean leader is particularly interested in the development of the Masikryeong ski resort, which is located north of Mt. Geumgang, and a special economic zone in Wonsan. To develop these areas, it’s necessary to attract foreign investment. To this end, the Mt. Geumgang tour program should restart. North Korea is striving to link Mt. Geungang with the Wonsan zone so they can generate the synergy effect. If the North finds any hope in the resumption of the Mt. Geumgang tour program, the family reunions could be held in mid-or late November. Even if the reunions are not held that early, they could take place around the Lunar New Year next year. This possibility is left open, considering North Korea should revive its economy anyway and for that purpose, it should improve relations with South Korea.



North Korea’s unilateral delay of the reunions plunged the old separated family members into disappointment and despair. North Korea should not exploit the pain of the unfortunate families politically but quickly respond to Seoul’s demand for resuming the reunions instead. Whatever the reasons, it is wrong to take humanitarian concerns hostage over political issues.



[Interview]Tumultuous Journey From Equatorial Guinea to N. Korea



A woman of African origin has recently published a book written in Korean. The author of this autobiographical essay entitled ““I’m Monica of Pyongyang” is Monica Macias, a woman with dark skin and curly hair from Equatorial Guinea, Africa.





To me, Korean is my native language. I even think in Korean, so I can express my thoughts most precisely in Korean—even better than in English or Spanish. Sure enough, my way of thinking and everything else is purely Korean.



What made her say that? What was her life like? Monica was born as the daughter of Francisco Macias Nguema, who was selected as the first president of Equatorial Guinea when the country became the first African country to be liberated from Spain’s colonial rule in 1968. About ten years later, however, the country was on the brink of civil war due to political instability and the president was executed by his nephew and then-Defense Minister Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The president had a close relationship with former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung and before his execution he hurriedly sent his three children, including Monica, to North Korea. North Korea was quite unfamiliar to the seven-year-old Monica.





There were lots of rubber balloons floating in the air at Sunan(순안) Airport in Pyongyang. Women dressed in the Korean traditional clothes of hanbok and men wearing suits shouted “Welcome! Welcome!’ with flowers in their hands. I remember I only wanted to grab the rubber balloon.



So, Monica was committed to the care of Kim Il-sung in North Korea, the brother country of Equatorial Guinea. Thanks to the North Korean leader’s care and consideration, Monica lived in Pyongyang for 16 years. Even now, she still vividly remembers the streets of Pyongyang.





The nights in Pyongyang were wonderful. I lived there from 1979 to 1994. Pyongyang was really beautiful at the time. Ten years later, I returned to find the city was completely different. Everything looked sad and nothing seemed to have changed at all as if the city had been trapped. Ten years had passed, but apartment complexes appeared shabby. Things had been totally different when I lived in Pyongyang. Back then, nighttime in Pyongyang was silent and beautiful under the glare of the neon lights.



To this day, Monica calls Kim Il-sung her second father. She clearly remembers what he said and even his voice.





He would keep on at me, like “You must study hard,” or “Be an elegant woman,” as older people usually do. As a politician, I don’t agree with him. But as a person who kept the promise he had made to my father, I’m thankful to him. He made good on his words by feeding me and letting me study when I was little.



Monica and her two siblings received the best education in North Korea, thanks to the North Korean leader’s exceptionally generous support. They entered Mangyeongdae Revolution Institute, which was a prestigious learning institute for children of high-ranking officials in the country. For Monica and her older sister Maribel only, the institute temporarily ran a new course for girls. There, the sisters learned North Korea’s juche or self-reliance ideology and received military training. They even had to adjust to military culture in which they were supposed to be lined up in straight rows when eating. As she had lived in North Korea since she was seven, she was able to speak perfect Korean. Just like other North Korean children her age, she believed North Korea was everything to her. But after she met foreign students while studying fashion in a college in Pyongyang, her curiosity about the outside world grew more and more. Her foreign friends often shared stories about outside Pyongyang. To Monica, their stories sounded like a whole new world. Around that time, she happened to hear a song “Dear Friend” sung by South Korean singer Cho Yong-pil, and the song was always deeply engraved in her mind. When Monica was 23 years old, she finally left for Spain, her mother’s country. There, she realized she had been just used to thinking and doing things the way she was taught to do in Pyongyang.





When I first experienced the capitalistic world, it was quite unfamiliar to me. I found it very challenging to earn money to feed myself. I cried a lot in those days. In Madrid, my friends and I happened to talk about the Korean War. Until then, I believed that South Korea had invaded North Korea. When my friends said that the opposite was true, I still argued that I was right. So, my friends took me to the largest library in Madrid. There were many books about the Korean War written by journalists from different countries. I chose a book written by a Russian reporter on purpose. I found that I was wrong about the war. No one could ever understand how shocked I was at the time. I did a lot of thinking. It was heartbreaking to learn that the person who raised me had committed such an act.



While Monica became used to her life in Spain, she wanted to see the United States with her own eyes, since she had learned in North Korea that the U.S. is a hotbed of the evils of capitalism. After setting foot on American soil, she discovered that the U.S. was different from what she had learned in North Korea. Again, she realized that she should not trust anything until she saw and experienced it herself. After Monica left Pyongyang in 1994, she traveled to Saragossa and Madrid in Spain and New York in the U.S. Another destination on her long journey was South Korea, a country that she was not allowed to visit when she was in North Korea.





I always thought I should come to South Korea because it is another part of the country where I grew up. In Pyongyang, I heard South Korea was quite miserable. But I had the feeling that was not true. I thought I should see this country myself and I wanted to visit South Korea.



South Korean people Monica met in 2007 were not much different from citizens in Pyongyang where she spent her childhood. The middle-aged women selling things in the market in Seoul were willing to throw in a few extra pieces. Monica made friends in Seoul quickly and soon felt closer to them. Everything looked similar to what she experienced in Pyongyang. But she says it’s rather frustrating to learn that people tend to point out differences between Seoul and Pyongyang through her, while she tries to find something the two cities share in common.





If they find fault with each other, they will be getting further and further away from unification. I was in Spain when I heard about North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island. I saw the news with my sister. We both agreed that an incident like that would make it even more difficult to achieve unification. We were very sad to hear that news.



Currently, Monica imports fabrics from Dongdaemun Market in Seoul and sells them in Madrid. She says that news about inter-Korean issues always catches her eye wherever she is. She also says she has been able to survive thanks to the Korean Peninsula.





On the surface, I’m black and I came from Africa. But I’m a Korean when it comes to thinking or expressing feelings. I believe I’ve been able to survive because the Korean Peninsula exists. That’s why I always feel grateful. When I get married and have a child in the future, I hope to show my baby the Korean Peninsula, I mean Pyongyang and Seoul. This is my beloved homeland and hometown where I grew up.



To Monica, unification of South and North Korea means that she will be able to come back to her hometown and meet her old friends again. Today, as always, she sincerely hopes for peace on the Korean Peninsula and Korea’s unification, looking up at the northern sky.

