We need more than politics to pursue peace in Asia
Japan and South Korea are especially strong allies and trading partners for the United States. North Korea is locked in a 60 year (and sometimes hot) war with its own kith and kin in the South, and by extension the United States and its staunch ally Japan. China, from its Communist era roots and later in the normal conflict of dominant world powers, also opposes US interests at most times and in most places. Hotspots like Syria, Taiwan, and the South China Sea have a military subtext, and other areas, like Africa, trade regulations, info and tech battles, have economic and political ramifications.
It is vital that these nations discount north face fleece reach and retain long term stability, yet with the exception of the US, all other countries involved start 2013 with completely new, first time leaders. Xi Jinping took over the fifthgeneration leadership of China, Shinzo Abe farright cabinet has just taken over control in Japan, and Presidentelect Park Geunhye will be inaugurated in South Korea in February. Include North Korea, and the leadership changes in all four countries of Northeast Asia occur at roughly the same time.
The leaders of all these nations are new to one another, yet already serious tensions exist among them, even among those meant to be supportive cheap northface of one another. These are especially acute over postures and policies related to control over a small island group known as Senkaku in Japan and as Diaoyu in China, and what are known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. These latter are two tiny volcanic islets, poking up from the sea that can be scaled only by wooden steps that ascend almost vertically. As Chico Harlan explains, a pulley system hauls food to a cafeteria built 300 feet above the waves.
It is for all of these reasons, and for the fact that democracies change leaders so constantly, that the habitual obsession with political personalities must be diminished, and that the pursuit of constructive international relations transcend the faddish, paparazzi type coverage and analysis of political affairs. The shared responsibilities of elected and appointed leaders, the media, and politically informed readers and viewers should transcend and shed its dependency and obsession with the comings and goings of political personalities. House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at protecting the welfare of North Korean children. The bill, the North Korean Child Welfare Act of 2012 states that of thousands of North Korean children suffer from malnutrition in North Korea, and North Korean children or children of one North Korean parent who are living outside of North Korea may face statelessness in neighboring countries. The objectives of the bill are multifaceted, but have the overarching aim of protecting North Korean children.
This is wise legislation that brings North Korea under a humanitarian and human rights microscope, not merely a security one, and in so doing creates a legitimate platform for a far greater community of nations to involve themselves in the complex global difficulties this nation causes. Concern for child welfare is perennial, not limited to the special interests of one or two countries, and not bound to the political leanings of this or that administration. Even North Korea itself has to be attracted to the prospect of positive welfare for its children and its future. This is the sort of creative politics that so perfectly transcends the tired and always failing talks, that dominate political and media chatter, and uses up our money and resources in the never successful pursuit of nonStateactor phenomenon that impacts North Korea sick imprisonment of its own people is the electronics and media smuggling activity carried out by North Korean defectors along the North Korea China border. This activity is steadily and increasingly exposing North Koreans to the realities of the outside world, and by natural extension undermines the ability for central government to control its people. The erosion of absolute central control is a vital step for world powers to be able to engage the country and take necessary steps to defuse the potential terror this totalitarian tyranny represents.
In case anyone doubts the impact of this sort of activity, AP in Hunchun, China reports this from North Korea supreme leader, Kim Jong Un in his speech at the headquarters of his immensely powerful internal security service: must extend the fight against the enemy ideological and cultural infiltration. Kim called upon his vast security network to crush those hostile elements. The assault that he fears? Cheap televisions rigged to receive foreign broadcasts, and smuggled mobile phones that if you can get a Chinese signal along the border can call the outside world.
Responsible media should have a broader mindset when engaging readers in domestic and international issues and actions. We should not be limited to printing inches and TV hours chasing around Ms. Park, Mr. Obama, and company day and night. Let reserve celebrity worship for celebrities. Put those magazines near the grocery checkout for those who need them, and let the rest of us begin to engage culture and politics in more mature ways. Let stop treating elected leaders like winners of American Idol, and rather incorporate them into a more complex approach to change not limited to the narrow range activity for which elected officials are responsible.
Frank Kaufmann is Editor in Chief of New World Encyclopedia (a values based, general knowledge encyclopedia), executive director of the InterReligious Federation for World Peace (an international, interreligious peace organization), founder and president of Values in Knowledge Foundation (a movement to to meet the challenges and undo the harm caused by declining content in the world of knowledge and information).