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| William Parker, president and CEO of the East-West Institute, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the Plaza Hotel, Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Park Ji-won |
By Park Ji-won
A U.S. think tank chief stressed Thursday that resolving humanitarian issues and then lifting economic sanctions on the North can pave the way to achieve the unification of the Korean Peninsula.
"If you resolve human rights issues in North Korea, only then you can begin to remove economic sanctions on North Korea. Once that's done, the second step is to look at the political system within North Korea on the Korean Peninsula at large. The second step will lead you to eventual unified Korea," William Parker, president and CEO at the East-West Institute, a New York-based global NGO committed to conflict prevention, said in an interview with The Korea Times.
He added that once the North achieves a balanced economy and political system it will finally give up its weapons of mass destruction programs at last.
His remarks came amid rising tensions surrounding the peninsula following a stalemate on denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington and escalating disputes between Seoul and Tokyo over the handling of historic issues created by the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule.
An international affairs expert specializing in national security and the global economy, Parker came to Seoul to attend an international forum titled "On One Korea: Historic Opportunity for Korean Unification: Vision, Leadership, and Action," Wednesday, where experts and civic activists gathered to discuss ways to achieve unification of the two Koreas. He gave a special lecture at the opening session of the conference.
Claiming that the North won't give up its nuclear weapons without extra benefits, however, he stressed the importance of denuclearizing the North, because if it fails, its nuclear materials might end up in the hands of other hostile players.
He urged for international society to join the denuclearization process as a possible way to prompt unification of the two Koreas.
"I think it is absolutely a job for the international community. I think at the end of the day, unification between the North and South will be resolved between the two Koreas. But I think the more complicated nuclear issue has to be resolved by the international community," he said.
He claimed it is the right moment to push for denuclearization as the peninsula is in the spotlight. "We are at a point the globe, led by the U.S. has said it is time to resolve this issue on the peninsula. So the U.S. and other countries have aggressively pursued this in the last two years."
He also said unification would be beneficial to the relevant countries in economic and security manners.
"There are opportunities out there where from both an economic and security perspective, not only in North and South Korea, but their neighbors could be significantly more secure and having improved economy if we make the right decisions," he said.
Regarding the South-Japan trade spat, which may weaken the trilateral military alliance between the South, Japan and the U.S., he claimed that they will start getting better in the near future as the leaders of the two countries understand the bigger threat, the North's nuclear arsenal and humanitarian issues. "The overall intent is the same to have a safe and secure region."
He also stressed that there is no need for the U.S. to mediate between the two even though South Korea and Japan are not having talks on the surface, while saying that multilateral talks are quite useful to lay out what the strategic issues are for each country.
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