By David Maxwell
David Maxwell
There is a unique relationship between denuclearization, human rights and unification. The only way to achieve denuclearization and end the human rights abuses being committed against North Koreans is by achieving unification, which is a new Korea determined by the Korean people achieving the "Korean Dream" — a United Republic of Korea. Perhaps counterintuitively, it is the focus on human rights that must lead to unification, and only when unification is achieved can there be denuclearization. And the connective tissue among the three is information.
Human rights are a moral imperative. However, they are also a national security issue because Kim Jong-un must deny the human rights of the people in the North to remain in power. Dr. Jung Pak often asks whom Kim Jong-un fears the most. Is it South Korea or the U.S. military? It is the North Korean people, especially when they are armed with information and knowledge of their universal human rights. Therefore, Kim Jong-un creates the perception of external threats to justify the suffering, sacrifice and oppression of his people.
This is what we are seeing today. Kim Jong-un has called South Korea the main enemy. He has said he will no longer seek peaceful unification, and he has even dismantled the Arch of Unification, calling it an "eyesore." These statements and actions, combined with the development of advanced military capabilities to include nuclear weapons and missiles, are making the pundits and press speculate that war is possible soon. But by saying no to peaceful unification, Kim Jong-un has also removed hope for North Korean people who believe unification will change their lives.
They have demonstrated a level of resilience in the face of hardship outsiders can hardly imagine, from humanitarian disasters to starvation, because of systematic and deliberate policy designs by the regime, the denial of human rights and crimes against humanity that the U.N. assesses has not been seen at such a level since the Nazi rule in the last century. Yet North Korean escapees are often asked why they do not resist such tyranny. They explain that because of the massive indoctrination effort by the regime for more than 70 years, combined with a system of social control that is worse than any caste system ever devised, along with little to no knowledge of the outside world, they simply do not know what to do. People of the North live in Plato's cave, and all they see are the shadows of the Propaganda and Agitation Department's projects for them. They have no frame of reference for resistance, and all their effort goes into survival. This is the paradox: The people in the North are among the most resilient people in history, yet they also have the least resistance capability in the modern world. This offers insight into what might contribute to changing the lives of the Korean people in the North and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
We appear to be at a very tense point in Korea today. Kim Jong-un is executing a political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategy to subvert, undermine and weaken South Korea, drive a wedge in the alliance and coerce political and economic concessions from South Korea, the United States and the international community. In 2024, he showed his true hand, that he considers the North a nuclear state and is prepared to use nuclear weapons to achieve the seven decades old goal of his father and grandfather: that is, to complete the revolution, rid the peninsula of foreign forces and dominate all of Korea under the rule of the Guerilla Dynasty and Gulag State. Now, following Kim's support for Putin's war in Ukraine, there should be no doubt that there is an axis of totalitarians who seek to do harm to the international community while continuing to oppress their people. We must realize that Kim will do in the South what the Kim family regime has done in the North to remain in power — he will deny the human rights of all Koreans, and South Koreans would suffer an unbearable fate if he were successful.
On the other hand, Kim is likely changing his rhetoric to "externalize the threat" because he may be under severe internal stress from North Korea's elites, military leaders and people. Kim needs to demonstrate that there is an existential threat from South Korea. Ironically, that threat is not from the South Korean military or its alliance with the U.S. It is South Korea's values of freedom, individual liberty, free market economy, rule of law and human rights for all that are most threatening. South Korea is the beacon on the hill for North Korean people, and this is a threat to Kim Jong-un.
Therefore, this is an inflection point in Korean history in which a major change could be upon us. But it also could be an opportunity if freedom-loving people in Korea, the U.S., and around the world are willing to seize it.
While the South Korea-U.S. combined military force is demonstrating superior deterrence and defense capabilities to prevent war and defeat the North if Kim decides to attack, now is the time to develop a new strategy that rests on the foundation of our military strength.
Ultimately, the two sides seek diametrically opposed end states. Kim has just revealed his true family regime strategy that has never actually sought peaceful unification. The regime seeks only domination. However, South Korean and U.S. presidents provided the vision for the alliance in their joint statement in April 2023: "The two Presidents are committed to build a better future for all Korean people and support a unified Korean Peninsula that is free and at peace." And at the Camp David Summit, Yoon, Biden and Kishida agreed that we must seek a free and unified Korea.
This is the time to initiate a new strategy — what might be called the "Three Plus One Strategy." It should be based on three lines of effort: a human rights upfront approach, a comprehensive information campaign and the pursuit of a free and unified Korea. The "Plus One" is that it must rest on the strongest possible foundation of deterrence and defense to protect not only South Korea but all Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone.
The alliance must adopt a human rights upfront approach. Again, to reiterate, not only are human rights a moral imperative they are also a national security issue. Kim must deny the human rights of the Korean people in the North to remain in power. People in North Korea suffer because of Kim's deliberate policy decisions to prioritize nuclear and missile development over the welfare of the people.
The alliance should develop and execute a comprehensive information campaign. When responding to North Korea's provocations, South Korea and the U.S. must also address the North's human rights abuses. Discussing the nuclear program reinforces the regime's legitimacy, but calling out the regime for its crimes against humanity undermines its legitimacy.
Kim Jong-un took away all hope of his people when he revealed that he is not seeking peaceful unification. But we should not panic or overreact. This is now the opportunity for South Korea, the U.S. and all the world's freedom-loving nations to bring back that hope by supporting Korea's unification. The key tool is information, and these are some of the key elements:
Design an overt information warfare campaign targeting North Korea based on massive amounts of information, knowledge, truth and understanding.
Information includes massive quantities of information, from entertainment to news.
Knowledge means practical information on how to conduct collective action to bring change, best practices for agriculture and market activity, and educational lessons without the Juche influence.
Truth reflects the reality about the regime, the situation in North Korea and the outside world.
Understanding helps North Koreans familiarize themselves with the inalienable and universal rights everyone should enjoy.
Although denuclearization of the North remains a worthy goal, it must be viewed as aspirational if the Kim family remains in power. The conventional wisdom has always been that denuclearization must come first, and then unification will follow and that there should be no discussion of human rights out of fear that it would prevent Kim Jong-un from making a denuclearization agreement. Today, even the most clueless person knows that Kim Jong-un will not denuclearize even though his policies have been an abject failure.
Everyone must understand that the only way to end the nuclear program and the human rights abuses in North Korea is through the unification of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea and the United States must continue to maintain the highest state of military readiness to deter war and then adopt a human rights upfront approach, a comprehensive and sophisticated information and influence activities campaign. They should focus all efforts on pursuing a free and unified Korea. Kim Jong-un's recent statements mean that focusing on Korean unification is more important than ever.
David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel and has spent more than 30 years in Asia as a service member and public servant. He specializes in Northeast Asian security affairs and irregular, unconventional and political warfare. He is the vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy and a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation. He is a member of the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the editor of the Small Wars Journal.
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