Help on the Way to North Korea
In My Community News. 19 May 2009.
A CONTAINER load of hospital equipment from the old Gosnells Hospital was sent to North Korea last week as part of an aid program for orphanages and hospitals in Pyongyang. The shipment was organised by Amaroo Care Services property and assets manager John Hansen.
Mr Hansen raised $17,200 with help from suppliers, residents, staff and local churches to buy the container and ship it to North Korea. “It was a joint community commitment to make use of a resource which we were unable to use in Australia,” he said.
The equipment included hospital beds, patient transfer trolleys, operating lights, mattresses and linen. Volunteers and Amaroo staff spent about 152 hours cleaning the gear and packing the container. Mr Hansen said Amaroo had been looking to provide a home for the equipment after the organisation bought the old hospital last year.
He found out about the work of aid organisation GO Consultancy, which has helped three orphanages and six hospitals in Pyongyang. Mr Hansen said GO Consultancy head Greg O’Connor had received the highest civilian award from the North Korean Government “There have been only three of these awards given to anyone outside of North Korea,” he said. “Greg has a real heart for the people and he ensures that any aid that’s delivered is put to the best use for the people, not the government there.”
Amaroo chief executive officer David Fenwick said the equipment would be welcomed by North Korean hospitals.
–
Fundraising (December 2008)
John Hansen, Manager Property & Assets had the idea of donating the equipment from the old Gosnells Hospital to Korea because it had been superceded in Australia and can’t be sold here. He made contact with the mission agency which is active in North Korea and supports hospitals and orphanages with donations of aid, including food, clothing and equipment. The Amaroo Board supported this plan.
Greg O’Connor from the mission says the doctors in the hospitals there are excited about this gift. There is just one small snag. We need to raise the $15,000 to pay for the container. John Hansen invites you all to a presentation on 5th February at 3 pm at Nancye Jones to meet Greg O Connor and see a DVD about some of the projects they have been involved in. One is an orphanage.
The picture on the left shows some of the gorgeous North Korean children after two months in the orphanage receiving proper care. Admin and Maintenance staff had a Breakfast in December at Dots Cafe to raise money for the cause. The photo on the right shows Monique Van Den Elzen- Clerical Assistant, Robbie Heerama- Maintenance and Tina Foster, Resident Services Co-Ordinator.
–
Arms found on Australian ship travelling from North Korea to Iran
MELBOURNE : Weapons including rocket-propelled grenades were found on an Australian-owned ship seized by the United Arab Emirates while travelling from North Korea to Iran, Australia’s transport minister confirmed Sunday.
Anthony Albanese said Australia was investigating the vessel ANL Australia, which was reportedly stopped earlier this month carrying a shipment of North Korean arms.
“I can confirm that that is the case,” Albanese told Channel Nine television when asked whether weapons including grenade launchers were found on the ship.
The vessel’s seizure marks the first time a nation has acted on UN sanctions to stop the communist state’s arms proliferation, a UN diplomat told AFP Friday.
Albanese said Australia took its responsibilities under the UN sanctions seriously and the foreign affairs department was investigating the circumstances surrounding the seizure.
“We are investigating as to whether there have been any breaches of Australian law,” he said.
“If there have been, that will be referred to the appropriate police authorities.”
The incident emerged despite a recent easing of tensions with the hardline communist nation, which has been seeking a resumption of talks with the United States three months after stunning the world with a nuclear test.
But the seizure is seen as an indication that North Korea remains set on exporting its military technology, long a top money-maker for one of the world’s poorest and most isolated nations.
The arms had been falsely labelled “machine parts,” the Financial Times reported.
ANL is a Melbourne-based subsidiary of the world’s third-largest container company CMA CGM, which has its global headquarters in the French port of Marseille.
Calls to ANL’s Melbourne office went unanswered Sunday. CMA CGM’s website says the ANL Australia is a Melbourne-registered, Bahama-flagged container ship built in 1991.
A new round of UN sanctions were approved unanimously on June 12, under resolution 1874, in response to North Korea’s earlier nuclear weapons test along with missile launches.
The resolution included financial sanctions designed to choke off revenue to the regime, and also called for beefed-up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.
North Korea responded furiously to the sanctions, vowing to expand its nuclear programme and bolting from a six-nation disarmament agreement.
Pyongyang in the past acknowledged selling military technology overseas, declaring it to be a sovereign right.
AFP/ir
–
Chris Schultz, general manager of business development at ANL Australia, said to the Sunday Telegraph he was unaware an ANL vessel was involved in any seizure. “This is the first I have heard of it,” Mr Schultz said. He admitted the ship was the property of ANL but refused any further comment.
Shipping Australia (SAL) is surprised at the media storm over the discovery of arms in containers aboard an Australian-owned ship in July. SAL chief executive Llew Russell said it would be surprising if there was any evidence of a link to Australia and Australians on which to base an investigation, other than the ship’s name. “On the information we have, [it has] not been established,” Mr Russell said to Lloyd’s List DCN.
Also see Cargo of North Korea Matériel Is Seized en Route to Iran
and UAE seizes weapons ship from North Korea
–
A Letter of Condolences on the Death of Former President Roh Moo-Hyun
The Hon. Woonsang Kim,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,
Embassy of the Republic of Korea,
113 Empire Circuit,
Yarralumla
ACT 2600
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
I am writing to express my profound condolences to you and your government on the tragic death of former President Roh Moo-Hyun.
Former President Roh was a courageous and idealistic man whose work for regional peace was profoundly appreciated by people around the world. All Australians who truly care for Korea mourn his passing, and share the grief that I am sure you must also feel at this sad event.
Yours sincerely,
Tessa Morris-Suzuki,
Professor, Australian National University
–
Towards a Possible Australia-ROK FTA
Australia-Korea FTA Talks Launched in Melbourne
Trade Minister Simon Crean held talks in Melbourne with Korea’s Minister for Trade Kim Jong-hoon on May 18 to launch the Free Trade Agreement negotiations between the two nations.
Mr Crean said the launch sent a powerful message on trade liberalisation in the midst of the global recession.
For further information on the Australia-Korea FTA.
Public Submissions
The Australian Government accords high priority to the views and expertise of all stakeholders with interests in our commercial relationship with Korea. As part of the process of developing positions for any proposed FTA negotiations,the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) invited public submissions and comments from individuals and groups on the expected economic, regional, social, cultural, regulatory and environmental impacts of an FTA with Korea. Here is one opinion expressed by a concerned member of public.
“Both Seoul and Pyongyang governments will inevitably have to seek to contain their own internal dissent together with historical rivalries between them following implementation of existing and new trade agreements. Australia, with its relatively small defence capability and ever greater responsibilities thrust upon it, potentially faces very real prospects of having to counter perceived hostilities from the Korean peninsula” — argues Richard Stone from South Australia – ”The next few years are likely to be a period marked by conflict and adjustment for the ROK and DPRK [....] Australia, in this context, is entering into a situation akin to sailing through uncharted waters in a boat too small to deal with the potential deluge”.
See the full text of Richard Stone’s Submission here…
Submissions were accepted by 30 January 2009 either electronically to KoreaFTA@dfat.gov.au, or by post or Fax: (02) 6261 2187 to: Korea FTA Task Force, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, RG Casey Building
John McEwen Crescent, Barton ACT 0221
–
How do you solve a problem like North Korea?
by Sam Roggeveen, The Age (March 27, 2009)
IT SOUNDS counter-intuitive, but building a shield to protect yourself from attack can make you less safe. Australia is about to learn that lesson. North Korea has announced that, some time between April 4 and 8, it will launch a satellite into space.
The US and its Pacific allies are nervous, as well they might be. After all, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Il, is a riddle wrapped inside a Mao suit. Who knows what he is capable of? And it’s impossible to know what his rocket will be carrying under its nose cone. Could it be a satellite for broadcasting revolutionary propaganda? Or is it a nuclear warhead aimed at Seoul, Tokyo or Los Angeles?
Because of that uncertainty, the US and Japan will monitor the launch and have threatened to shoot down the rocket if they think it endangers them. That they are able to make this threat is due to a remarkable technological feat. Today, after two decades of multibillion-dollar budgets, it can honestly be said that parts of America’s ballistic missile defence network — the stepchild of Reagan’s “Star Wars” program — actually work.
Based on successful tests of its ship-based missile defence system, the US now really can “hit a bullet with a bullet”.
The US has exported this technology to Japan, and it looks like Australia wants in too. We should get a decision on this in the imminent defence white paper, but we already know from the Labor Government’s party platform that it favours a limited Australian missile defence capability.
In practice, that will mean our three new air warfare destroyers will be built with the capability to detect and possibly shoot down some classes of ballistic missiles. Good news, right, given how potentially unstable Kim is? Not really, because if North Korea ever perfects its Taepo Dong 2 missile, which might have the range to reach Australia, we would still be defenceless.
Long-range missiles such as the Taepo Dong 2 travel too high and too fast. Our system would work against shorter range missiles only, so it could protect our troops deployed overseas but it couldn’t defend the homeland. That sounds like a limited though still useful capability to have. But to understand how it might make Australia less safe, imagine if we had such a capability today, just as North Korea is readying its rocket.
First of all, just having the capability creates difficult diplomatic choices. Australia has long maintained a somewhat independent foreign policy stance on North Korea — unlike Japan and the US, we have diplomatic status in Pyongyang. That buys us some flexibility and might even make us useful as a conduit to the regime or as an honest broker.
What would happen to that valuable diplomatic flexibility if we deployed our warships off North Korea? On the other hand, what if we didn’t? What would Japan and the US think of our reluctance to help defend them from potential attack?
Yet those curly questions pale against the true significance of an Australian missile defence capability in this scenario. It’s important to understand that although our air warfare destroyers could not intercept a long-range North Korean missile, they could help track one using their powerful radars. In missile defence, fast and accurate information is key, and the US and Japan have deployed a whole suite of radars and satellites to help them shoot down a missile aimed at them.
If Australia had a missile defence capability on its destroyers today, we could sail one such ship north to form part of that network, and thus help defend Japan and the US. Now put yourself in Kim’s shoes. If you are intent on raining nuclear destruction down on your enemies, and you have only one missile on the launchpad, would you take the risk of trying to get through those defences?
Perhaps, but it might also cross your mind to fire the missile at an undefended target. An American ally, perhaps, with widely dispersed cities that present big targets for your highly inaccurate missile. So there’s the rub: by sending our ship north to help protect our allies, we would strengthen their defences, making it more likely that North Korea would fire its missile at us instead. Talk about an own goal.
Let’s be clear — none of this is likely to happen. First, North Korea’s technology is primitive, and it may never develop a truly long-range missile. Second, Kim knows that if he tried a nuclear sneak attack, the US would retaliate, and then some. The Pyongyang regime may be eccentric, but it shows no sign of being suicidal.
Ballistic missile defence is seductive because it promises a neat technological fix to a problem — missile and WMD proliferation — for which we currently have only messy diplomatic solutions. But missile defence can’t solve the problem of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. At best, it buys the US and Japan some time in its negotiations with North Korea, and gives them a useful tool for managing tensions such as those we are now experiencing as a result of Pyongyang’s latest piece of brinkmanship.
Unfortunately, missile defence could have the perverse effect of making the North Korea threat bigger for Australia. And were we to invest in missile defence ourselves, we might actually be contributing to that deterioration in our security. That’s why the “messiness” of a diplomatic solution will continue to be the best hope for Australia and its friends and allies who want to disarm North Korea.
Collectively, there is simply nothing for it but to hold our noses, sit down and talk to Pyongyang.
Sam Roggeveen is editor of The Interpreter, a weblog of the Lowy Institute for International Policy.
Address to the 9th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees
The Hon Stephen Smith MP
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
20 March 2009, Melbourne
The Human Rights Situation in North Korea
…There are many experts here today, from Korea and elsewhere, who will be able to give you first hand information about human rights abuses in North Korea . I particularly welcome the participation of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DRPK, Professor Muntabhorn. He has recently reported to the Human Rights Council and I am sure he will bring a well-informed and current perspective to discussions later today. Professor Muntabhorn’s report makes for troubling reading in its cataloguing of the systematic violation of human rights in North Korea .
From denial of the simple right to food and basic necessities to State-sanctioned torture and execution, millions of innocent people in North Korea are suffering under a brutal regime. This situation is all the more galling given the considerable expenditure of resources in North Korea on missile and nuclear programs. Much of the international community’s attention is understandably focused on these programs and Australia has long held grave concerns over them.
Australia deplores provocative North Korean actions like its current planned missile launch, and urges that this not proceed. Australia also strongly supports Japan ’s call for a full accounting of the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea. Pyongyang ’s continuing unpredictable behaviour is a stark reminder of the dangers of nuclear proliferation.
We are using our strong non-proliferation credentials to support international efforts towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula , including the Six Party Talks. The Australian Government does not, however, believe that these efforts should impede parallel action to address the grave humanitarian situation in North Korea. That is why events like today’s Conference are so important. We need to continue to raise awareness, exchange information and explore new approaches to addressing the appalling violation of human rights in North Korea .
We must remember that behind the statistics there are thousands of individual lives being lived and lost. I was particularly struck by the recent story of Shin Dong-hyuk, the only person living in South Korea known to have escaped from a North Korean prison camp. Shin was born in the camp, sentenced with his family to a life of unimaginable horror and misery because of the supposed crimes of his uncles. Shin was tortured by fire, had a finger amputated and witnessed the shooting of his brother and the hanging of his mother before escaping to the South.
To read of these almost unfathomable cruelties is to glimpse State-sanctioned behaviour that is anathema to our common human dignity. The true magnitude of the situation comes with the realisation that Shin’s ordeal is by no means an isolated case.
Australia’s response in an international context
How do we respond to the tragedy of a State’s blatant disregard for its own people’s welfare?
Our priority must be to provide assistance in those areas where we can do so with immediate effect. For Australia, this means providing humanitarian assistance including food, water, sanitation and medicines and ensuring this assistance is well-targeted and delivered effectively to those in need.
Since 1994-95, Australia has contributed $75.7 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea . Our commitments this financial year are A$6.75 million to date. Australia also consistently registers our deep human rights concern bilaterally with the North Korean Government. Our Ambassador to South Korea visited Pyongyang earlier this month to express our position.
We are, however, keenly aware that effective pressure on human rights standards in North Korea will best come from concerted international action. North Korea may be isolated, insular, and indeed sometimes impervious to the outside world but we continue to believe that action by the international community can produce positive results.
Australia is therefore active in international fora in encouraging human rights institutions to take coordinated action. Australia co-sponsored a resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea at the most recent UN General Assembly late last year.
That resolution expressed serious concern over reports of systematic violation of human rights, including torture and inhuman conditions of detention as well as violations of economic, social and cultural rights which have led to severe malnutrition and health problems.
We are looking to co-sponsor a similar resolution in the Human Rights Council over coming days and are working in Geneva to ensure a robust text. Australia also supports the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, Professor Muntabhorn, to ensure that a human rights expert appointed by the Human Rights Council continues to report specifically on the situation in North Korea…
See the full text of the speech here…
–
Towards a Possible Australia-ROK FTA
Preparatory Talks
On 11 August 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd met with Republic of Korea (ROK) President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul. The two leaders agreed to the commencement of preparatory talks between officials on an Australia-ROK Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Media release: Australia-Korea FTA Preparatory Talks conclude, Simon Crean, Minister for Trade, 19 December 2008
Media release: Australia-Korea FTA Preparatory Talks begin, Simon Crean, Minister for Trade, 12 October 2008
Call for Public Submissions
The Government accords high priority to the views and expertise of all stakeholders with interests in our commercial relationship with Korea. As part of the process of developing positions for any proposed FTA negotiations,the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is inviting public submissions and comment from individuals and groups on the expected economic, regional, social, cultural, regulatory and environmental impacts of an FTA with Korea.
Submissions need not be lengthy, and may build on or refer to submissions made during the joint non-government feasibility study on a bilateral FTA.
All submissions will be made publicly available on the DFAT website unless the author specifies otherwise.
Those intending to submit are encouraged to do so by 30 January 2009, either electronically to KoreaFTA@dfat.gov.au, or by post or fax to:
Korea FTA Task Force
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
RG Casey Building
John McEwen Crescent
Barton ACT 0221
Fax: (02) 6261 2187
–
North Korea expert says Australia should discuss ties with Pyongyang: Extended Interview
South Korea and Australia have been holding talks to expand their co-operation as Asia-Pacific middle powers. Radio Australia’s Linda Mottram speaks to Doctor Leonid Petrov, North Korea expert from the Australian National University.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Doctor Leonid Petrov, North Korea expert from the Australian National University
- Podcast Windows Media
–
Talks held between Australia and South Korea
January 26, 2009
Australia and South Korea enjoy a strong relationship particularly when it comes to trade. South Korea is Australia’s fourth largest export market and its sixth largest overall trading partner.
Presenter: Michael Cavanagh
Speaker: Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
- Podcast: Windows Media
Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
Press Conference – Perth (23 January 2009)
SMITH: Well, thanks very much for turning up. I’ve been very pleased this morning to welcome to Australia, Foreign Minister Yu, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, of South Korea.
And we’ve just laid a wreath at the War Memorial. This reflects the start of the modern day relationship between Australia and South Korea, and Australia’s contribution in the Korean War is very gratefully appreciated by Korea itself. And the wreath-laying reflects the importance of the Australian contribution in the Korean War in the 1950s.
Since that time, of course, we’ve established a very successful and strong modern-day relationship. It started, of course, with an economic relationship, particularly minerals resources from Western Australia; originally iron ore, but more recently iron ore, coal from other parts of Australia, crude oil, and we’re now looking at the potential for greater exports of liquefied natural gas.
So it’s a very important energy relationship. Our economic relationship, our trade investment and economic relationship, of course, is much more than minerals and petroleum resources. It now crosses the array of goods and services.
It’s also very important people-to-people contacts. We are the single third-largest destination for South Korean students and we have a very large number of Koreans, young Koreans who come here for work holiday purposes.
We’ve had a very productive exchange this morning, particularly talking about enhancing the very strong security, strategic and defence cooperation between Australia and South Korea. We are, of course, both allies of the United States and that’s a very important factor that we have in common. [...]
–
South Korea’s ambassador to Canberra discusses relationship. Extended Interview
South Korea and Australia have been holding talks to expand their co-operation as Asia-Pacific middle powers. Radio Australia’s Linda Mottram speaks to Dr Kim Woosang, South Korea’s ambassador to Canberra.
i>Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Dr Kim Woosang, South Korea’s ambassador to Canberra
- Podcast: Windows Media
‘양국 관계 발전의 새로운 견인차’
철광기업체 BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto 한국 POSCO 지원
Australian Ambassador to NKorea arrives in Pyongyang
Pyongyang, August 26 (KCNA) – Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly, received credentials from Australian Ambassador to the DPRK Peter Jason Rowe at the Mansudae Assembly Hall today. On hand were Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il and staff members of the Australian embassy. Kim had a talk with the ambassador after receiving the credentials. Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, met and had a talk with Peter Jason Rowe, new Australian ambassador to the DPRK, who paid a courtesy call on him today.
–
SKorean ambassador hopes for stronger Australian ties
The South Korean Ambassador to Australia is hoping a recent visit to Seoul by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will help improve bilateral relations. South Korea is Australia’s sixth largest partner when it comes to two-way trade. The relationship between the two countries doesn’t enjoy the same profile that its north Asian neighbours China and Japan have in the Australian community.
When the Australian Labor Party was elected to office last year led by Kevin Rudd, there was great emphasis that he travel and meet with leaders in the US, Europe, China and Japan. The Korean republic rarely figured in discussions about destinations. Prime Minister Rudd, following his second visit to China since becoming leader, left Beijing after seeing the Olympic Games opening and headed to Seoul for a brief visit.
During the stop-over in meetings with Korean President Lee Myung-Bak trade naturally enough was a major issue. Mr Rudd says there was a realisation that discussions underway for a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries must continue. The conversation also touched on other matters such as education, and climate change.
Ambassador Kim Woo-Sang told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program he hopes this is the start of a widening of the relationship. “It is about time for the two countries to discuss other issues, important issues including such things as security, defence, middle power role in multi-lateralism climate change and other human security related issues,” Dr Kim said. “(The Australian) prime minister’s visit to Korea this time gave a sort of a momentum to discuss on these issues and upgrade relations on those areas as well.”
South Korea’s most senior representative in Australia says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd can assist in the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program. Australia is not a member of the group which comprises South and North Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States. However, the subject was raised during the Australian prime minister’s recent visit to Seoul.
Seoul’s ambassador to Australia Kim Woo-Sang says Mr Rudd’s understanding of China could be a great help. “Prime Minister Rudd speaks Mandarin and has many good friends in China,” he said. “If he could be helpful he could persuade Chinese leaders to play a more active role in six party talks system.” The ambassador says China has done well so far, but with Mr Rudd’s assistance Beijing could possibly do more.
Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia and South Korea will begin formal discussions on a free trade agreement in Canberra next month. Mr Rudd was recently in South Korea and met the country’s President Lee Myung-bak in the capital Seoul. The two leaders had been due to discuss climate change and Mr Rudd’s idea for a Europe-style Asia Pacific community.
However the Australian leader says the main issue on the agenda was the development of a free trade agreement. “These are preparatory discussions preparatory negotiations and the president and I confirmed our in-principal support for an Australia-Korea free trade agreement.”
–
Australia and the DPRK: the 60 Years of Relationship
By Leonid A. Petrov Nautilus institute, Policy Forum Online 08-069A: (September 9th, 2008)
This year the two Korean states are celebrating their 60th anniversary. Established respectively in August and September 1948 the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) both have covered a long and winding road of struggle for recognition, survival and prosperity. With different degrees of success, both states have entered the 21st century of Globalization but still refuse to recognise each other. Ideological confrontation between the East and the West, which sparked a civil conflict in Korea, continues to dominate inter-Korean politics now and effectively prevents the prospect for reconciliation and peaceful unification.
All these years Australia has been one of the countries intimately involved in political developments on the Korean peninsula. As part of the West, Australia was closer to the ROK and even fought on its side during the Korean War (1950-1953). Active economic, cultural, and human exchange continued cementing the firm alliance between South Korea and Australia. These days the ROK is Australia’s third largest trading partner; South Koreans visiting Australia reach hundreds of thousands every year; academic and language exchange is on the rise. This year both countries decided to start the process leading to the Free Trade Agreement, which will fully open their domestic markets to each other.
On the contrary, relations between Australia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), have been one of the oddest and most chequered in diplomatic history. Australia was prominently represented in the UN Temporary Commission for Korea in 1947 and contributed to the creation of two hostile states on the peninsula. A short period of mutual recognition and cultural cooperation with the DPRK took place in the mid-1970s but was suddenly and mysteriously broken off. In May 2000, encouraged by the improved climate of inter-Korean and DPRK-US cooperation, Australia and North Korea resumed diplomatic relations. However, the resurgent nuclear crisis and the drug-smuggling incident in Victoria proved to be hard tests for this shaky relationship. (See the full text here…)
LP
–
Australia and South Korea: New Governments…New Opportunities?
Colin Heseltine, Austral Policy Forum 08-08A, 14 August 2008
Introduction
Colin Heseltine, former Australian ambassador to the Republic of Korea, notes that despite substantial economic ties between Australia and Korea, their relationship “lacks a sense of the long-term strategic importance of the relationship which drives Australia’s relationships with its two other north-east Asian partners, Japan and China”. Both countries, Heseltine argues, have lost opportunities. “Korea’s perception is that while Australia is a great supplier of iron ore and coal to Korean steel companies, its market for Korean manufactured products is small and limited. Hence the previous Korean administration relegated Australia well down its list of priorities for a bilateral free trade agreement.” Heseltine concludes that remedying this situation will require “some changes in the mind-sets of opinion makers in both countries. Indeed power shifts in regional politics and the economics of energy including growing pressures in energy markets may well force such changes.”
Essay: Australia and South Korea: New Governments…New Opportunities?
For most Australians, South Korea appears on their radar screen intermittently at best. Korea’s hosting of the 2002 soccer world cup, volatile political demonstrations, crises with North Korea and its success in the current Beijing Olympics are some such occasions. But the future of the Korean peninsula, in particular the outcome of negotiations with North Korea involving South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, has enduring importance for Australia. No-one can predict at this stage how successful these six-party talks will eventually be, but there are signs that something workable can emerge. With new governments in Australia and South Korea, and a new US administration early next year, the political landscape in the region from an Australian perspective is changing. Now is an appropriate time for Australia to be rethinking its long term policy interests in Korea.
By most measures Australia’s relationship with South Korea is strong and highly beneficial for both sides. South Korea is Australia’s fourth largest export market and its overall sixth largest trading partner in goods and services. Australia provides Korea with essential resources, energy and agricultural products in return for quality manufactured goods from Korea such as autos, telecommunications equipment and electronics. Education and tourism links are substantial. There is a relatively small but useful and growing defence relationship which has the potential to see increased defence sales in both directions. Both countries are allies of the United States, see eye-to eye on most regional and global security issues and are active supporters and participants in regional organisations. Australia and Korea were at the forefront of creating APEC in 1989. High level political contacts such as Prime Minister Rudd’s visit to Seoul this week continue to be an important part of the relationship.
And yet the relationship lacks one of the most important elements which drives Australia’s relationships with its two other north-east Asian partners, Japan and China. In both of these the partners share a sense of the long-term strategic importance of the relationship and have shaped their policies accordingly. Australia’s role as a major reliable supplier of essential energy and resources products to fuel these countries’ economic growth has been vital (as it has with South Korea). Importantly though, the strategic dimensions of the relationship between Australia and Japan, and Australia and China, has taken on greater importance with the changing political and security environment in the Asia Pacific region, mainly due to the economic and political rise of China. The role of the United States in the region, and Australia and Japan’s formal security alliances with the US, have also played into this development.
Why then has this longer term strategic dimension been less prominent in the Australia-Korea relationship than in the other two despite the many similarities in the basic building blocks of all three relationships?
One of the reasons often put forward from an Australian perspective is that in relative terms the sheer size and international weight of China and Japan simply overshadow Korea despite the latter’s status as an economic powerhouse. Thus, it is argued, Australia and Korea as middle powers can only do so much together, and their priorities need to focus on key strengths and interests. It is of course undeniable that the lure of large, dynamic and growing markets such as Japan in the early post-war period and China more recently is extremely strong, and relationships with other countries tend to play second fiddle. However this is not altogether a satisfactory explanation since neither Australia nor Korea are so lacking in human and intellectual resources that they could not direct more of them to the relationship if there were a will to do so.
A more pointed explanation is that Korea itself is understandably preoccupied with its immediate neighbourhood and simply cannot look beyond it in shaping its strategic outlook. Since the devastation of the Korean war over fifty years ago, South Korea has had two abiding objectives: to achieve massive economic reconstruction, growth and prosperity; and to achieve peace and avoid another war on the Korean peninsula. In the first of these, resource-rich countries like Australia played an important role, hence the successful long-term relationship which has developed between Australian resources companies and the Korean steel industry.
But with the second objective, which involves not just simply avoiding war but embraces complex emotional issues of national psyche and identity, the United States and China are the key external partners. Other near neighbours such as Russia and Japan also play important roles but countries like Australia play only a minor support role. Australia’s participation in the Korean war is remembered with much gratitude in South Korea but this does not shape its current assessment of Australia’s role in north-east Asia.
Thus it is not surprising that, in Korean eyes, while Australia is a valuable supplier of much needed resources and energy to help it achieve economic prosperity, it has little to offer on Korea’s other important national issue. For its part, however, Australia, because of its geographic location, will always have a greater strategic imperative to reach out in the region than will Korea with its understandably narrower geopolitical focus. There is therefore something of a strategic disconnect between the two countries.
But it’s not just the political and security relationship. Even in regard to the trade and economic relationship, which has grown impressively over recent decades, Korea and Australia have not tapped the long-term strategic potential to the same extent, even allowing for the differences of size, as we have seen in Australia’s relations with China and Japan. Why this has not happened is perhaps more puzzling than the case of the political and security relationship. The Australian and Korean economies are highly complementary. Australia has land, resources and energy, an educated English-speaking population which can add value to Korea’s strengths; Korea has limited land, is resource/energy deficient, but has tremendous manufacturing and IT strengths which include large and successful international companies. But even here it seems that Korea’s perception is that while Australia is a great supplier of iron ore and coal to Korean steel companies, its market for Korean manufactured products is small and limited. Hence the previous Korean administration relegated Australia well down its list of priorities for a bilateral free trade agreement.
The case of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Korea is illustrative. Australia is, and continues to be, a major supplier of LNG to Japan, which happily snaps up every bit of additional Australian supply as it come on stream; and China, as a new entrant to the LNG market, is signing up big new deals with Australia. And yet Korea, which is the second largest LNG buyer in the world, has thus far signed only one modest-sized contract with Australia despite considerable efforts by Australian companies and governments to secure new contracts. Most estimates of Korea’s energy requirements in coming years indicate significant LNG shortfalls with the likely result that unless Korea moves quickly it will be forced to buy expensive short term and spot supplies.
Why has Australia not been able to sell more LNG to Korea at a time of considerable demand pressure in international markets, and with both Japan and China acting far more pro-actively to secure Australian supplies? Part of the answer lies in the fact that in the past Korea, unlike Japan and China, has seen greater economic returns from purchasing LNG from Middle Eastern countries where Korean engineering and contracting companies could export their services to large infrastructure and other projects. Given the nature and structure of its economy, Australia does not offer such opportunities to Korean companies. Australia’s attraction as a reliable supplier from a safe region free of political volatility, and the opportunity it provides to build a long-term energy relationship has proved less compelling. Both countries have lost opportunities.
Future opportunities in Australia-South Korea Relations
What are the prospects for the future? Undoubtedly the relationship will continue to be strong, broad-based and mutually beneficial. Australia should, however, be looking for more than this. In its first nine months the Rudd government has signaled two key elements of its foreign policy: Australia’s relations with China will be pivotal to Australian interests; and Australia should take the initiative in the Asia Pacific region to develop regional architecture that will better serve the broad range of regional interests and aspirations. Given the vital importance of the Korean peninsula to China and, more broadly, to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region, it follows that Australian foreign policy would be strengthened by working more closely with South Korea and other key partners on Korean peninsula issues in pursuit of the government’s foreign policy objectives.
The timing for doing this is good. There is a new government in South Korea, with a more pragmatic and hard-headed approach to North Korea than its predecessor, and there will soon be a new administration in the United States which, even if it doesn’t change the direction of US policy on North Korea, will at least want to bring some fresh thinking on it.
It should be noted that prior to the collapse of the Korean Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) following North Korea’s admission in 2002 that it was developing a highly enriched uranium program, Australia had played an active policy role on North Korea, including regular dialogue with the United States and South Korea, and by contributing to the supply of heavy oil to North Korea as part of the KEDO arrangements. Without seeking here to assess the value or otherwise of KEDO, the point is worth making that Australia’s contribution and role at that time served it well diplomatically by building Australia’s north-east Asian credentials with key countries. This experience of only a few years ago is worth drawing on in the current context.
In seeking to build a more strategically focused relationship between Australia and South Korea both sides can take advantage of a number of emerging factors.
A more outwardly focused South Korea
While realistically South Korea will remain highly focused on the immediate demands of settling issues on Korean peninsula for a long time to come, the more positive environment in which the six-party talks are proceeding may offer some hope that a lessening of tensions will enable South Korea to think more about its wider external relationships.
In fact South Korea has at times demonstrated a commendable interest in looking beyond its immediate region. Korea played a pivotal role in establishing APEC in 1989 and, more recently, during President Kim Dae-jung’s administration (1998-2003), Korea was active in developing and promoting ideas on regional integration although these were not a high priority for the succeeding administration of Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) whose foreign policy interests were more focused on the immediate Korean peninsula.
The appointment in 2006 of former South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-Moon as UN Secretary General may also contribute to a greater sense in Korea of its place in the wider world and of international issues beyond north-east Asia. Moreover, the new Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, had a long and successful career as a senior executive with one of Korea’s major international companies. It can be assumed that he has a strong sense of Korea’s wider interests in the world.
New areas of regional and international cooperation
The Rudd government has signaled its interest in developing new ideas on regional integration as a top foreign policy priority. Just as Korea played a pivotal role with Australia in creating APEC, the contribution that joint Korean and Australian collaboration can make in advancing regional integration should not be under-estimated. Both countries could also benefit by discussing tactics and mutually supporting each other’s claim to participate in an expanded G8 forum.
Evolution of the six-party talks
There have been suggestions that the six-party talks could form the basis of some sort of continuing regional security forum after Korean nuclear issue has been settled. Should it evolve into a body focusing on north-east Asian security, Australia, with its substantial long-term strategic interest in this region, would no doubt have an interest in being part of it. Given South Korea’s central role in these talks it makes sense for Australia to be talking actively to South Korea about this.
A bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
There may be greater movement towards an FTA with the new governments. Importantly, progress on an Australia-Japan FTA should provide an important stimulus to moving forward on an Australia-Korea FTA. Given the difficulties in South Korea over the United States FTA and sensitivities over agriculture, we cannot expect early progress but the start of discussions would form the basis for developing a more strategically focused economic relationship.
Energy cooperation
Despite the slow progress so far in building a long-term forward-looking and strategic energy relationship, the growing demand pressures in world energy markets and their impact on Korea, will continue to offer the opportunity to introduce some new action in this area of the relationship. It is also worth noting that if the six-party talks achieve a successful outcome, energy will be a significant element in the settlement. Australia, as a significant energy player in the region, will have a lot to offer North Korea, in concert with other regional partners, including South Korea.
Conclusion
To build a more strategically focused bilateral relationship between Australia and South Korea there will need to be some changes in the mind-sets of opinion makers in both countries. Indeed power shifts in regional politics and the economics of energy including growing pressures in energy markets may well force such changes. We might also hope that the advent of new governments in both countries, and the high level contacts that will occur between the two, will provide the opportunity to talk about these matters and to bring about some new thinking on the relationship.
Colin Heseltine, a career diplomat, was Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2001-2005. He previously served in Beijing and Taipei. E-mail: colinheseltine@hotmail.com
–
АВСТРАЛИЙСКИЕ НОВОСТИ ЗА НЕДЕЛЮ (in Russian) 
Сайт “Австралийский дневник” Леонида Петрова ставит своей целью ознакомление русско-язычных читателей с новостями в Австралии и вокруг неё. Список линков на русско-язычные порталы в Австралии поможет Вам ответить на интересующие Вас вопросы (иммиграция, экономика, социальные программы, и т.д.).
Сайт обновляется каждую неделю.
http://rspasanu.livejournal.com/
–
*North Korea Studies* Media Archive:
Australia and North Korea (1998-2006)
