Sorry I'm late.
I had to stop by the Wax Museum again and give the finger to FDR.
We know Al Qaeda, Zawahiri is supporting the opposition in Syria.
Are we supporting Al Qaeda in Syria?
It's a proud day for America and by God we've kicked Vietnam syndrome once and for all.
Thank you very, very much.
I say it, I say it again.
You've been had.
You've been took.
You've been hoodwinked.
These witnesses are trying to simply deny things that just about everybody else accepts as fact.
He came, he saw, he died.
We ain't killing they army, but we killing them.
We be on CNN like Say Our Name been saying, say it three times.
The meeting of the largest armies in the history of the world.
Then there's going to be an invasion.
All right, y'all.
Introducing Dr. Simone Chun.
She is on the steering committee of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned About Korea and is a member of the Korea Policy Institute and the Korea Peace Network.
Welcome to the show.
How are you doing?
Pretty good.
Thanks for having me.
Very happy to have you here.
And a couple of recent articles of yours of interest.
First of all, toward a newly, toward a truly indigenous peace in the Korean peninsula.
It's time that American politicians, both Democratic and Republicans, give Koreans a chance to shape their own destiny.
And well, what an important point to even come from in the first place, because the narrative on TV news here is that stupid, evil, horrible Donald Trump is trying to do a thing.
And so therefore, it must be horrible and we all should oppose it, even if it's peace talks.
But what you're saying here is that this is North and South Korea and their governments are really leading this parade.
What's unique about Donald Trump is he's decided to not try to stop them as Obama or Bush would have done.
You know, Professor Noam Chomsky pointed out that this is somewhat a unique opportunity because this is, in a way, the very first time that two Koreas are in the driver, driving the peace process.
And Donald Trump has done one thing, that is attending a meeting, a summit meeting.
And in spite of all those very hardline rhetoric that he had for almost a year, and the fact that he did agree with the one thing that no American president ever done, that is to meet with the North Korean leader.
So that is pretty significant.
And so, as you pointed out, as a Korean and as also, I mean, I have lived in the United States for more than 20 years.
And, you know, a lot of people around, you know, my friends and colleagues, and most of them are actually progressive Democrats who will not necessarily support, you know, a Republican or Republican president.
But on this issue, because of the peace, you know, the Asia peace and war in the Korean Peninsula is so significant.
And this, we're talking about 68 years of the Korean War that has not ended, as you know.
And so it's time to really, you know, to support the amazing initiative that the two Koreas are engaging.
But it's very still frustrating, you know, as you mentioned, and also I, including myself and Americans, there is a very sort of a strong opposition against the permanent peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula.
So I'm just hoping that I'm great to have this opportunity and be happy to, you know, answer more questions concerning the issue.
Yeah, well, so now, to go back a little bit, and I think, you know, most of my listeners are familiar with this.
But at the time when George W. Bush took power in 2001, we already had a nuclear deal with North Korea.
And at that time, they had been moving toward opening more relations in the Clinton years, but then they ran out of time on the Clinton years.
And then when the Bush administration came in, Colin Powell, the Secretary of State had said, we have a pretty good deal with North Korea, and we want to keep it.
But he was soon overruled by Dick Cheney and our current National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and others who worked to destroy that agreed framework deal, which ended up just pushing North Korea out of the Nonproliferation Treaty and toward nuclear weapons.
It was only then that they began making nuclear weapons.
And then the Bush administration after that, and then the Obama administration as well, they both had the so called principle that only after the, you know, a nuclear issue is resolved, as Bush put it, only after they give up the nukes that he pushed them to get in the first place, only then can we get to talking about ending the war, any kind of reunification or anything like that.
And it sounds like, I mean, is it right that that's really something that, you know, Trump is saying we can basically negotiate all these things, rather than saying, you must comply 100% with my nuclear deal before you get anything else.
He's saying we can go ahead with recognition, we can go ahead with allowing, not that America's leading it, but he's allowing the North and the South to negotiate on the question of a real peace treaty to end the war and this kind of thing, kind of all as one sort of process, rather than having the technicality, the deal killer, that Bush and Obama built into it.
Is that pretty much a fair assessment?
That is a fair assessment.
However, I'm not quite, you know, I don't think that there is still a clear sense of what the Trump administration is going to do.
You know, there's a lot within the Trump administration who are also divided, and especially, you know, people are very, I know we are very concerned about the John Bolton wing, who, you know, demanding denuclearization first and trying to be sort of very obstructionist in the anti-diplomatic settlement.
And, you know, going back to, I think the one thing very important is to sort of debunk this myth that North Korea is the one that was a threat.
And so I think this is something we think about it.
If you remember, it is actually the United States that has been sort of, you know, obstructing any progress on the Korean Peninsula.
Even as you recall, peace treaty should have been signed in 1953, actually, you know, 90 days within the signing of the armistice.
And, you know, as you know, North Korea is still tackling the war.
And if you look at the history and record, it is again and again the United States that has actually, you know, like a stopping, obstructing peace process in the Korean Peninsula.
Even let's talk about the nuclear issue here.
Is that North Korea that it has, it is a trigger?
I mean, the United States, you know, decided to introduce nuclear weapons into South Korea in 1956.
That was violating the armistice agreement and all the way up to 1991.
And so this is where we're talking about in North Korea, you know, constantly this sort of the way images portrayed in the United States, the media is this evil empire, not empire, evil, and the very, you know, you cannot have a biased opinion, objective opinion.
And so North Korea is basically under the threat of US nuclear, US nuclear threats for almost half a century.
So that is the context that we have to understand.
And even now, in spite of all the, you know, some very historic peace process that has been occurring, you have within the United States, we have a really, truly powerful opposition forces.
It's not just some hotline neocon analysts or, you know, within the administration, but also, you know, it's a fair surprise that democratic members of Congress that are almost like taking like John Bolton's type of neocon argument and that they are, you know, that their position is basically, you know, we're not going to support anything Trump, you know, proposes or, again, you know, North Korea must denuclearize first, and then we can talk about anything.
So there is the, you know, I really, you know, I'm not going to underestimate the importance of the two-Korea technical initiative.
But on the other hand, this, the United States is obstructing the peace settlement in Korea, which is lasting for more than half a century.
And this is I find is more serious and more difficult challenge than anything that, you know, I have seen.
And that's why I think it is really important that we really have to, you know, inform and educate the public race awareness.
Yeah, well, you know, that sure is right.
And, you know, obviously, it makes sense that you would have, you know, liberals and Democrats knee jerking against the president, but to have the entire center and including the liberals, and not really the leftists, you know, I differentiate between real leftists, and I guess real progressives and the liberals who are less principled, closer to the center, where but where they team up with John Bolton to really try to stop this to do nothing but disparage this effort in every way.
And, and, you know, they really have let their agenda shown to in their panic.
I'm sure you're familiar with this, where the Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies tweeted out back, I guess, as soon as Trump announced that he would even hold the Singapore meeting.
It may have been after that, but I think it was as soon as he announced that he would hold the Singapore meeting that, oh, no, but if we have peace on the Korean Peninsula, and end to the crisis there, then that will take away our excuse for having our troops there.
And, and so that is the end.
And the crisis is the means, and they would rather keep the crisis, even when the crisis means literal nuclear brinksmanship between Kim and Donald Trump threatening fire and fury and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, that still you don't want to take that threat away, or else, what's our reason for having 30,000 troops there?
That's the way they think about it.
And they, and they don't even know to be embarrassed about that.
They don't know that that's supposed to be their secret motivation, and that they're supposed to lie to us about what's going on.
They admit it, that that's what's going on.
You know, the, I actually happened to be visiting a democratic senators office right after the Singapore summit, I was in the DC.
And it was, I was shocked.
They were, I mean, we're talking within 24 hours of the summit, right?
And these democratic senators, and we're not talking about Republicans, I again, highlight democratic senators.
And their response was, in a way from raging something, oh, you know, you know, very sort of disappointed, and that they thought that there's nothing in it that is concrete.
And another expression was just, you know, it's a very extreme, they didn't even, they didn't even want to, you know, take time and to evaluate, it was they were immediately, they were ready.
They were ready to say this was a failure, right?
And so that was truly amazing.
And so you are right, what happened is that, so I was talking to some of the, for instance, the more, Senator Menendez office.
And it was, they were saying, because I was telling them, you know how the Korea sovereignty, and as a Korean, I think it's very important.
I was talking about the, you know, the family, separated family members, the inter-Korean process is important.
And the staff member to Senator Menendez, the response was, oh, yeah, I think it's great.
Okay.
And we, you know, we understand President Moon has done a great job.
And then he said, but the only thing, the most important thing for us is America's security interest.
And then when I made it more detail specific, what come down was the American troops, you know, from 28,000 or 32,000 American troops stationed in Korea.
So that is the main, you know, the most important one as far as I was concerned.
And then if you think about why do they, why are they so concerned about those American troops?
So what did, which come down to the Korean problem?
That is, you know, this issue in Korea is not, this isn't about to Korea.
This is not actually about North Korea.
This is about United States, a hegemonic interest, right?
The maintaining and securing hegemony in Northeast Asia.
It's actually, you're talking about against the China, against the Russia.
That is the fundamental interest.
So to Korea is sort of a means, you know, for the, for the America to, you know, maintain those troops.
And even still this day.
And so this is why, in a way, you know, people who were looking at this, you know, some people think it's great to solve this crisis and have a peace.
On the other hand, those people are, you know, literally like freaking out.
And they're, you know, they're just, you know, very concerned that there may be any peace.
And then there will even, you know, sort of eliminate the need for American troops there.
So you're absolutely right.
That is why it is, you know, the process has been going on this long, and it still has faced major challenges.
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Really is something to see.
In fact, I should go find this quote and really write this down so I have it with a footnote and everything.
But I saw in one of these conversations with these experts on Twitter saying that, really, the troops in Korea, just as you just said, the troops in Korea, they're not really there for North Korea.
To keep them out, even as the tripwire for war on behalf of the South.
They're really there for China.
And that's why we need them there.
And that's why we need our troops in Okinawa and wherever else is to hem in China.
Although, there's not enough troops in Korea, Okinawa, Australia, and the entire Pacific to really do anything to threaten China.
I mean, our Navy, I guess, can threaten them.
But the actual infantry that we have, quote unquote, available, aren't enough to land on the coast anywhere in China.
I mean, that's crazy, right?
So, the whole thing's kind of bogus, but they've talked themselves into believing it.
And I'm reminded, I just read this book, The Doomsday Machine by Daniel Ellsberg.
And there's such insight in that book of just what it means to be a bureaucrat, and especially his job was planning nuclear war.
But it just goes to show the way that they think, well, we've got this game theory equation that says that this is how we should do it.
And so, to you and me, it sounds crazy.
You're sitting here talking about reunifying families.
Well, that doesn't fit in our algorithm.
That's not the way we look at this.
This is about threatening Beijing, right?
And so, what seems like the basic human concern, or even the national interest of the American people, as we would see it, doesn't really have much to do with it.
It's, as you said, these games of hegemony.
Yeah, exactly.
That's why, you know, it's very important to, I mean, you know, I've studied, I teach international relations, and I, you know, study all those game theory.
And even, you know, the Vietnam War, how, you know, if you look at it, the Vietnam War was completely designed, theorized by these game theorists, these guys in the lab, right?
It has nothing to do with reality, at the cost of millions of, you know, people.
And that is why I was going to say, you know, some of the cis activists are trying so hard to put human face on the Korean conflict, even as you see, you know, this week's event, that is a reunion of divided family members.
And we're talking about those, you know, 10 million Koreans who were separated from the Korean War at the time.
And, you know, a lot of, still thousands and thousands of people.
And if you look at those, you know, the reunion event, I mean, people literally, I mean, there's a mother who is for the first time seeing, you know, her son and, you know, man who is, you know, like nine year old man for the first time meeting his, you know, family.
And after having waited for 68 years, they get to have only 11 hour meeting.
And that's it, they will never be able to see their loved one again.
And so this is the humanitarian crisis.
And that's why I think it's very important to, you know, to some context is mainstream media, the portrayal of the crisis, the only thing they talk about is nuclear weapon.
However, we have to understand the origins of that, you know, this country issue.
And because really, you know, to bring the human side of this story.
Right.
Well, and, you know, Also, one more thing I want to mention about, you know, just to remember something, you know, a little bit earlier point about the American security establishment interest, all this military industrial complex, their main concern that is having permanently, you know, sort of colonizing South Korea is that, you know, you probably already know that, you know, we just the South Korea just helped build the largest US overseas military base, you know, came, came Humphrey, which is open just now.
And we, you know, South Korea has spent like 90% of that cost, that is a $10.8 billion.
And why would you need you might want to ask, you know, why would you need the largest US overseas military base in South Korea?
And we have in Jeju Island, there's, you know, very most beautiful island in South Korea, there's they just built a probably, you know, naval base, which you can have all this nuclear submarine and all can be, you know, operate.
And they just finished that about just about two years ago.
So if you put these facts development, the Korean Peninsula is still at the very heart of this, you know, the sort of Cold War.
And that is why the process is not just about North Korea, this is the we really have to understand the big picture.
And to some extent, I think that those people in Korea who, who still trying to be diplomatic and try to convince Trump administration to, you know, have some results with the peace process of North Korea, saying that, you know, even for the North, don't look at North Korea just as a sort of enemy.
Look at the entire Korea as you know, why maybe the statistically important for United States strategic interest in North Northeast Asia.
And I mean, this is a little more complicated issue, but I can talk about more later about another time.
But still, the big picture is that we have to have a very clear geopolitical broader context of the of the crisis, not just North Korea, who is developing, you know, this nuclear weapon and posing a threat to the entire world.
Right?
Well, I mean, no, you're exactly right.
Of course, if if just fair was fair, then people would see that America has everything to give and nothing to lose here.
You know, the idea that we're supposed to just just continue to sanction and blockade until you know, forever comes and one day the regime falls.
The people who said the regime was about to fall, have said that since the Soviet Union fell.
And it hasn't happened yet.
It's been more than 25 years.
And, you know, so opposite of the Soviet model is the China model where Nixon and Kissinger just went over there and shook hands with Mao and said, let's end the Cold War.
And so, you know, China's had nukes this whole time, and nobody cares because we're friends with them now for 40 years, and it's been fine.
And so, you know, when you hear we hear critics all the time, you know, the Fox News version.
Well, now that Donald Trump's the president, I guess their tune has changed.
But the Fox News version of this would be that, you know, it's a totalitarian state.
You can't deal with them.
But that no, yes, it's a totalitarian state.
Of course, that's why to deal with them.
That's why they're completely, you know, virtually powerless and poverty stricken.
And we have everything to give and nothing to lose by just killing them with kindness and just saying, you know what?
And in fact, you know what they say in all their criticism of Trump that, you know, Trump is such a sucker.
And this guy, Kim, is such a wily, crafty guy playing fourth dimensional chess here.
And he's going to get over on Trump and he's getting all these things and giving up nothing and all this stuff that even if those caricatures were true, I mean, because the guy, you know, he's inherited a totalitarian state.
He's a pretty bad guy.
He's enforced it so far.
But we could just, you know, obviously, diplomacy wise, they could just play it like, hey, you're your father's son.
You're not him.
You're a brand new man and you can do what you want and it doesn't have to be this way.
And I think that is kind of how they played it in Singapore, right, with that video they made for him and everything, where, you know what?
Even if he is a carbon copy of his dad, just keep telling him that he's not.
And just keep telling him, look at all we have to gain for being friends.
And there's no reason to have this crisis at all.
Seems like, you know, if Trump, you know, maybe he only didn't go far enough yet.
Maybe he should go ahead and end the war and give a permanent security guarantee and give him everything up front and then get him to disarm as much as possible.
But start with taking away their motive to even have nuclear weapons by just being their friend.
Precisely, yeah.
I obey Kim Jong-un.
He's in his 30s and the guy is a pretty young, you know, young leadership.
And he is a lot of people, you know, the one main mainstream narrative you get from American media, North Korea cannot be trusted.
That is one thing.
And here, I think we should also really even look at the North Korean leadership.
All of those three leadership, you know, they may not be the most, you know, how would I say, likable people, but all of them, Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-un now, all of them have said one thing consistently, that is the security guarantee, peace treaty.
Just don't, you know, threaten us, specifically the United States, right?
If you don't threaten us, there's no reason for us to develop a nuclear weapon.
And in a way, they just want to be kind of left alone.
You know, it's not, yes, it's a totalitarian system, but that's the way it is.
And there's a lot of, you know, rotten, you know, people on Earth, but they're not, North Korea is not the only one.
And you're absolutely right.
Just look at China.
I mean, China developed, you know, opened its economy and China is obviously nuclear power.
And still you have, you know, you know, diplomatic and all kinds of political relationship with the rest of the world.
And if the Soviet Union can do, and China can do it, why can't North Korea do?
I mean, this is, in a way, ludicrous.
And the fact that even to even entertain the idea that North Korea is, you know, a positive threat to the United States and the entire world, that in itself should be, you know, it really doesn't make sense to a lot of people.
So I think this is time, really, I hope that, you know, President Trump, you know, we don't really support him other policies, but on this one, I think he has a momentum.
He did, you know, he's done right, he did the right thing to meet with Kim Jong Un.
And most important, I think, going back to the original point, that is, this is, two Koreas wanted, and President Moon Jae-in wanted.
President Moon Jae-in, as you know, was elected with the candlelight revolution.
I mean, he's the, you know, 80%, 90% of Koreans support the repression of Moon.
And this is why this time, we should really, you know, have a clear, have a, you know, peace process that has conquered results, specifically having signed peace treaty, and then, you know, move forward.
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And now, so, can we talk a little bit about the details of what the North Koreans have been willing to do so far to show their good faith?
I mean, we only have Singapore and some subsidiary talks, but we don't actually have an agreement with them yet.
But they've already done some things, like repatriation of remains from the Korean War, and some other things.
Yeah, so, as you can, they already did, you know, unilaterally, they implemented nuclear test moratorium, and also they unilaterally, you know, implementing missile test moratorium.
As you know, also, they closed those Pyongyang nuclear test sites, and dismantled key satellite launching sites, and as you mentioned, releasing American prisoners.
And so, what North Korea wants is this, it's a phasing approach.
They would like to get some kind of security, very actually strongest possible security guarantee from the United States, which means right now at the three, two Koreas that are requesting signing a political document, political declaration saying that, you know, that end Korean War.
This is not a full peace treaty.
It's sort of interim, it's a prelude to full peace treaty.
The reason, the importance of this is because, you know, it's going to take at least two years or so for the full history that, you know, that has to be also ratified by US Senate, etc.
So, in the meantime, what are you going to do?
If you, like right now from North Korea's point of view, if you let's say, you know, as the way the United States wants, they could just say complete denuclearization right now, and then with some kind of promise of, you know, peace treaty later.
What that means is that, you know, the two Koreas, they are, Korea is still in the technical war.
What you're saying is to North Korea, okay, why don't you just, you know, lay down your arms, give up all your arms, and then we'll see, and then, you know, maybe we'll behave, and then we'll may give you some peace treaty.
So, that is not really, I don't think that is not reasonable.
So, North Korea wants Beijing approach, they want some kind of interim security guarantee.
And then, I think that what I'm hearing also from Korean analysts is that they are, with the upcoming Secretary Pompeo's visit, I think it's going to happen in probably soon, in September, and North Korea is willing to provide all the list of nuclear programs, the weapons, detailed facilities, and the ICBM, and all that.
I think with the exchange of the United States signing that political declaration, you know, saying, and, you know, Korean War has ended, right.
So, this is, I think, that I think it's possible.
And also, that President Moon Jae-in has said that signing the political declaration of ending Korean War is the goal of this year, 2018, we're going to sign that.
I think China is also supporting it.
So, I think that is sort of a more short-term goal.
And in terms of long-term goal, I think North Korea with, again, there's a good chance to know within even, you know, before the next election, U.S. election, North Korea will, you know, especially with Kim Jong-un, I think there's a good chance that she will, with the support of South Korea, and there's a good chance that North Korea will be pretty willing to deal, sign a deal, try to deal with the United States that can really, you know, acceptable by the Trump administration.
So, that is my guess.
So, in other words, in a nutshell, at this point, the most important one is giving North Korea the security guarantee that it wants.
And even Kim Jong-un, you know, during the summit meeting, the inter-Korean summit meeting, you know, not everything was translated because I was listening to Korean.
Kim Jong-un was saying, you know, we don't need a nuclear weapon, something like that.
And if United, why would you want a nuclear weapon if there's no threat from the United States?
So, of course, it's, you know, just different from individual leaders' remark is different from the sort of state's interest.
But nevertheless, I think, again, going back again and again, is the important point is that keeping them security guaranteed, I think will have been quite a pretty acceptable nuclear deal with North Korea.
Yeah.
Well, now, it's not just Bolton, but, you know, even the Trump and the rest of them, they say complete, they even have, you know, initials.
I don't know if it's an acronym or not.
They have initials for it.
Yeah, the complete denuclearization verification.
Yeah.
So, but what about settling for less than that?
What if at the end of, I don't know, another 18 months of this or so, Kim says, okay, look, I want to hang on to a couple of atom bombs, but you can take down my long range missiles and, you know, whatever.
I'll give up a lot, but I'm not giving up every last A-bomb.
And it's certainly good enough for me.
I think we should just, you know, make a peace treaty and a security guarantee anyway.
And I don't care if they have nukes or not, but I'm not in charge.
So, I wonder if you think that would just blow up the whole arrangement or you think, you know, and I know you're keeping close tabs on all these other, you know, experts and wonks looking at this.
Do you think that actually that might even be acceptable on the American side after a while that, you know, okay, maybe you'll still keep a couple of nukes, but at least take down your factories so that you don't make any more and whatever else like that?
What do you think?
I think it depends on how it is presented to American public.
I think American public might be, you know, it's acceptable to American public.
I mean, look at Pakistan, you know, nuclear power, Indian nuclear power, of course, they will say, well, Pakistan is not North Korea.
But anyway, you know, those nuclear powers, they, you know, they still, as long as they are, I mean, abiding by those rules governing nuclear weapons.
And up there, another important thing is, even if you are nuclear power, in the case of North Korea, the argument that people are making is, you know, their economy is embedded within the regional economy and also with the rest of the world.
And there will be, there won't be any incentive for them to, you know, threaten other countries with nuclear weapons.
And I think the difficult thing is though, I mean, look at this one.
The reason why this North Korea is a little bit different is the American security establishment, they cannot accept the fact that they have to, what do you say, they have to, you know, challenged by this small country, like rogue country like North Korea.
It is almost like, you know, it hurt ego.
And psychologically, it's very difficult to accept the fact that you allow North Korea, like a tiny country, you know, 10 million people at the risk of starvation and hunger, and giving them sort of a, you know, equal nuclear power.
I think that is, if you sort of, you know, get over with the psychological sort of barrier, I think it could be acceptable, North Korea.
And the more important thing is that, again, the South Korea, I think in this case, you know, this is not about between, again, North Korea and the United States.
And this is about South Korea, and there is about, you know, 15 million people in the South, and their role.
And I, again, in this case, when, when, you know, when President Moon Jae-in delivered a speech in the last week about National Liberation Day, and South Korea and North Korea and their right to, you know, charter, their right to shape the future is more important than, in a way, than any other issues.
But that is for Korea.
So I think that it's time for the United States to, you know, take a, you know, a different perspective on this issue.
And to really give us some, you know, greater sort of a way to, you know, respect what the two Koreas are trying to do.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, here at the end, could you talk a little bit more about the family separations?
And then, you know, you have this great article, it's called Sea of Tears, the tragedy of family split by the Korean War.
It's at Common Dreams.
And we ran it on antiwar.com as well.
And where you talk about how difficult it has been and still is for these people, these families that have been separated for decades and decades now, where it's only some very limited number of people are allowed each year to meet and this kind of thing.
Can you talk about that?
And then, I guess you're saying there was recently a big meeting.
Started with about, you know, 1953, when the Korean War was halted, about 10 million Koreans were separated in both North and South Korea.
And you cannot, unlike, you know, unlike like two Germans, you know, there was some kind of communication, even when they were divided.
There's absolutely no communication, right?
Let's say, you know, I'm a Korean citizen, right?
If I were to say somehow have a personal, let's say, a communication with North Korea without government approval, I'll go to jail.
We have very harsh South Korean national security laws.
You know, you're basically, you consider enemies of the state.
No communication whatsoever between family members.
Now, since 1980s, however, there has been some, you know, attempt to have a family reunion.
So, in total, about official reunions, about 220 face-to-face reunions.
Now, so who are those people and how were they selected?
Now, about, you know, South Korea started requesting registration of divided family members.
A lot of people even don't register because there's a lot of stigma against the people from North Korea.
So, total about 137,000 people have registered, and they say they would like to meet, I'm talking about South Korea, they say they would like to reunite with their family in North Korea.
And that started about mid-1980s.
You know, half of those people who registered already died, you know, and without ever having to meet their family.
So, now we have about, about since 19, the official one reunion started in 2000.
So, we have about, today, this week's event reunion is 21st.
And so, this is, as I said, it's the way the Korean government selects, it's a lower system, right?
So, you get to, you know, this is the one out of, you know, thousands of people, you know, get selected.
And so, this year, they selected only about, you know, 100, and also 100 from South Korea and 100 from North Korea.
So, we're talking about 200 family members, but not all of them could go to participate because they're too old and health problem.
And so, and then they will, so this is, as I mentioned in the, in the, my article, it's only one time event, they can never meet, you know, the, they will never have a chance to meet them again.
And, and then there are also about, we're talking about the remaining about some, you know, more than 60,000 divided family will probably will never get to see their loved one.
And also in the United States, we have over some hundreds, some thousand Koreans who have a relative in North Korea, who could not, you know, who could not, who can't visit, who cannot meet there.
And especially with the Trump administration, put this travel ban on, you know, visitors to traveling to North Korea.
So, this is a humanitarian disaster.
And so, my hope is that with the opening of this, now resuming this family reunion, and I hope that I specifically in the article, I said, it's important to have a regularization of a family reunion.
There's a permanent place where family can go, instead of just having to make a long journey to Kumgang mountain and, and just get to, you know, meet only once this kind of, you know, permanent place.
I think that'll be great.
And also, there's another one in the US, actually, US Congress, there's a Congress resolution that requests the family, you know, travel reunion of Korean Americans in North Korea.
So, I hope that it's a very good resolution.
And I hope that that passed both House and Senate, so that Korean Americans can participate and have a reunion with their, you know, loved ones in North Korea.
So, in a nutshell, this is, you know, it's not just about, you know, North Korea, this is about a nuclear issue.
This is about the most, this is 21st century, the most, you know, tragic history.
And I hope that with, you know, they said Korean words forgotten.
I hope the Americans this time, maybe have, you know, more understanding.
And we really, I really hope that there's a bipartisan support for this peace process.
And I truly appreciate that, you know, people like you and those progressives who are doing amazing work, you know, that peaceful peace in the Korean Peninsula.
All right.
Well, thanks very much for coming on the show, Simone.
I really appreciate it a lot.
Thank you.
All right, you guys, that's Simone Chun.
She's writing at Common Dreams, and we're republishing at least some of it at niwar.com, toward a truly indigenous peace in the Korean Peninsula.
And also, make sure and look at this one, Sea of Tears, the tragedy of families split by the Korean War.
All right, y'all.
Thanks.
Find me at libertarianinstitute.org, at scotthorton.org, antiwar.com, and reddit.com slash scotthortonshow.
Oh, yeah.
And read my book, Fool's Errand, Timed and the War in Afghanistan at foolserrand.us.
