"In private," the paper continued, "Seoul officials have expressed alarm that the administration is rushing ahead with plans to develop a missile shield before seriously testing Pyongyang's willingness to abandon its long- and medium-range missile programs."

Kim's spokesperson, Park Joon Young, expressed this unease at a news conference in mid-February. "The most important element of inter-Korean relations is that there is no more war," he said. "And that outweighs considerations of whether we give more or take more. Peace is the most important thing."

The statement reflects the fact that the wealthy capitalist class in the south, which has grown up only over the past four decades, knows it would be severely damaged, if not overthrown, in a war with the north. For this reason, the president's "sunshine policy" aimed at talks and increasing exchange with north Korea, enjoys widespread support among south Korea's rulers.

Selig Harrison of the Century Foundation in Washington, described as a "specialist on Korean affairs," summarized the arguments of Seoul as, "we are on the firing lines here; please be careful."

Yang Sung-chul, south Korean envoy to Washington, urged the Bush administration to not go "back to the drawing board." The ambassador was referring to talks and agreements over the past half-decade opening up limited trade and diplomatic links between Washington and Seoul, on the one hand, and Pyongyang on the other.

These warnings and appeals to the Bush administration from the capitalist class in south Korea come amidst a deepening economic crisis in the country and resistance by unionists to company attacks, such as the protests by thousands of auto workers at the Daewoo car manufacturer, in face of layoffs and concession demands by the employers.

Some of the nervousness among south Korean ruling figures comes as a result of the determination of the government and people of the workers state in north Korea to press for reunification of the country and implementation of accords reached with Washington over the past several years.

Korea has been divided since 1953, at the end of the imperialist military assault aimed at reversing the socialist revolution underway in the country. For several decades after the defeat of that assault and the creation of separate states--a workers state in the north and a neocolonial capitalist regime in the south--Washington and Seoul maintained a consistently hostile stance toward the northern government, marked by the presence of 37,000 U.S. troops armed with nuclear weapons alongside Seoul's half-million-strong army, wide-ranging economic sanctions, and an unremitting anti-communist propaganda barrage.  
 
Evolution of Washington' stance
Beginning in 1994, talks between Washington and Seoul, and with Pyongyang, led to a series of agreements between the two countries and increased momentum in talks between the governments in the north and south on reunification. Washington and Seoul agreed to provide the north with food, fuel, nuclear power plants, and other resources in exchange for Pyongyang's agreement to end various programs aimed, the U.S. government claimed, at deploying long-range nuclear-tipped missiles.

In an unprecedented visit to Pyongyang in October, U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright held talks with north Korean president Kim Jong Il. At the same time Washington and Seoul said that U.S. troops would stay in the south, whatever the progress toward closer ties.

Seoul is concerned not to see the process of negotiations brought to a halt. For its part, the government in the north has reacted sharply to the Bush government's antagonistic policy moves.

"If such [hostile] policies are the new U.S. government's official position, then the problem is extremely serious," stated the north Korean foreign ministry on February 22, noting the falling away of contacts between the two governments. "The new U.S. government is not even trying to learn the details," of previous agreements, it said.

Pyongyang has threatened to end its moratorium on missile testing and development of its nuclear program. It has accused the "new U.S. foreign and security team [of taking] a hard-line stance towards us." The statement said, "If the U.S. does not change its position, we won't allow ourselves to be bogged down by old proposals made to the previous U.S. administration." Adding, "The leaders of the U.S. are hopeless fools if they think we will accept" such an approach.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, replied, "We have said that we are concerned about the proliferation of missile technology that is coming out of North Korea.... If that's a hard-line position then so be it."

Bush administration officials claim to be "interested in pursuing the Clinton administration's efforts to assist North Korea, but only in a verifiable way." Another official added, "We're not going to jump on a train that we believe was already moving too fast."

The partial steps toward reunification have proved immensely popular across the peninsula, including in the south. In late February a third round of reunions of family members from both sides of the border was held. Talks continue about opening up rail links and increasing economic cooperation. Seoul and Pyongyang have also conducted negotiations about constructing a dam in the border area to try to limit the catastrophic effects of flooding during the monsoon season.

Some of the capitalist corporations in the south are building up investments in north Korea. The Hyundai corporation, for example, has won approval to build a huge industrial park near the border, "hoping to lure hundreds of labor-intensive factories from the South and elsewhere with low North Korean wages," in the words of the Washington Post.  
 
Daewoo workers protest
The capitalists in neocolonial south Korea face other problems. Immense pressure from imperialist investors to clip the wings of the giant conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate the economy, is driving them to confront the industrial workers and their unions.

The battle against the layoff of 1,750 workers by the Daewoo Motor Co.--carried out at the behest of General Motors, which is bidding for ownership of the company--continues unabated. On February 13 the regime mobilized 4,000 cops to assault and evict several hundred workers and family members occupying the company's plant in the city of Inchon.

One week later, Daewoo workers commenced a sustained protest in the town of Bupyong, 18 miles west of Seoul, the location of Daewoo's main plant. On February 24 protesters marched along the road that runs near the factory, occupied an eight-lane boulevard and burned tires, and confronted thousands of riot police blocking a square where a mass rally had been planned. Using steel pipes, they fought back against police assaults.
 
 
Related article:
European powers bow to 'missile shield' plan  
 
 
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