Viewing Korean Peninsula Conflict from Wide Perspective

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakata - Conflict on the Korean Peninsula should be viewed from a wider perspective. Not just as a strain caused by North Korean weapons testing or triggered by military exercises with South Korea and the United States.

This was conveyed by the Secretary-General of the Indonesia-Korea Friendship Association (PPIK) Teguh Santosa who became one of the speakers in one session at the 2017 Conference on Indonesian Foreign Policy (CIFP) in Jakarta on Saturday (21/10). Teguh speaks in a session entitled "Asia's Hot Spots: Rohingya, North Korea Marawi and ISIS" guided journalist MetroTV Andini Effendi.

Other speakers in the session were Regional Director and Multilateral Cooperation BNPT Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, Prof. Richard Heydarian from De La Salle University, Senior Advisor for Human Rights Working Group Rafendi Djamin, researcher from the Philippine Development Academy Jamil Maidan Flores, and Amnesty International Indonesia Director Usman Hamid. All of these speakers focus on human rights issues in Marawi, Philippines and Rakhine, Myanmar.

During the session Teguh said he visited repeatedly to North Korea and South Korea to gain an adequate understanding of the conflict since the end of the Second World War and briefly experienced the culmination of the Korean War between 1950-1953.

Journalism, called Teguh, requires journalists to know the facts, and that encourages them to continue to know the conflict on the Korean Peninsula from the first sources, including by repeated visits to both countries.

"There is a law of the best: do not tell me the words, just show me the numbers," he said.

He also reminded participants who were mostly students who had an interest in global issues and foreign policy that relying solely on one-sided news, let alone blast messages from irresponsible social media, could lead to false conclusions.

"There are still many who believe all men in North Korea should have the same hairstyle as Kim Jong Un," said the lecturer of East Asian politics at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, citing the growing error in the middle community about North Korea.

Chairman of the Indonesian Media Union of Siber Indonesia (SMSI) and Chairman of Foreign Affairs of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) also said that it must be realized that the world is entering a new tension.

If you have the ability to concoct creativity in designing foreign policy, Indonesia and ASEAN, moreover, have the opportunity not only to be middle power, but also become a leading power.

"In the Cold War era, the conflict on the Korean Peninsula was an expression of containment politics between two camps fighting over and defending the hegemony of the United States and the Soviet Union," he said in response to a number of participants after the discussion.

"Now, the conflict in the region is an integral part of a new conflict between the United States that wants to maintain hegemony in the region with the People's Republic of China which in recent decades has succeeded in establishing itself as a new challenger," Teguh said.

Teguh explained that North Korea's weapons testing, including a hydrogen bomb test in early September, is an effort to maintain a balance of power. However, North Korea feels it must compensate for the forces that they think have been threatening.

"The joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States on the border is a real threat to North Korea. But not much news that sees from that perspective," he continued again.

Another conclusion strongly derived from its interaction with North Korea so far is that North Korea seeks to create peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula based on talks by leaders of both Koreas in the past.

According to Teguh, North Korea is not closed at all but is implementing the strategy of "mosquito net". With these mosquito nets North Korea can observe the situation outside the country, and at the same time provide an opportunity for outsiders to observe them, but "mosquitoes" cannot enter