U.S. policy, ICT and Korean reunification: an alarming new Senate report

The world has changed a great deal since Korea was divided at the 38th parallel after World War II, in no small part because of the revolutionary developments in semiconductors and telecommunications that fuel the information revolution. This is an underlying message of the recent visit to Pyongyang by Bill Richardson and Google's chairman, Eric Schmidt. As I have argued in numerous earlier posts (for example this June 2011 post) and in Chapter 8 of my Kindle book, Telecommunications and Transformation in Korea, communication  has always been a central reality in Korea's tragic national division, but the digital information revolution that started late in the 20th century has changed the game as the web, social and mobile media proliferate.
While the information revolution and economic development in China and other nations of the Asia Pacific region have changed the world, one thing remains unchanged and unfortunately stuck back in the Cold War era:  U.S. foreign policy vis-a-vis the Northeast Asia region.  A core aspect of the problem is the failure of the United States, at the presidential level, to articulate a foreign policy that clearly addresses the question of Korean reunification, while publicly making it clear that the United States favors unification and will work with the Korean people toward that goal.  This is a policy failure not just of the Obama administration, but successive Republic and Democratic administrations. (President Obama and President Lee Myung Bak did issue a joint declaration several years ago advocating a united Korea that was at peace, but this was not the sort of message that captured the attention of mainstream media around the world.)  In foreign policy perceptions matter a great deal and it seems dangerous to allow even the slightest chance that people in Korea or other nations of this region will misunderstand U.S. intentions.   After all, Dean Rusk who played a critical role in the choice of the 38th parallel as a line to divide Korea between the advancing Soviet forces who entered the country from the North and the U.S. forces in the south, has publicly stated that, had he known more about Korea's history, the U.S. would never have proposed that dividing line.   Furthermore, U.S. representatives over the years have made it clear that there was never any intention to permanently divide Korea.
In this context, a report published last month for the U.S. Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations is alarming. (downloadable here in pdf format) Entitled "China's Impact on Korean Peninsula Unification and Questions for the Senate," the report explores China's historical claims to territory on the Korean peninsula and examines the possibility that China might actively oppose Korean reunification.  One possible reason for such opposition might be the presence of U.S. military forces in Korea. To me and I'm sure to many others, the prospect of Chinese opposition to peaceful reunification of Korea is alarming.  All the more reason, I would suggest, for the U.S. administration to articulate its policy on the main political problem here in Northeast Asia, Korea's national division.

Google's chairman in North Korea (2)

Steven Haggard of the Peterson Institute published a blog post that adds interesting detail to my short post earlier about Google's chairman Eric Schmidt visiting North Korea.   Among the most interesting details is that Schmidt and his Google colleague Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas, are writing a book called "The New Digital Age," which is due out in April.
This morning I happened to see the video below on television news.   It proves that there are a few people in North Korea who, at least on special occasions, actually use Google to access and search the internet.   From all available evidence, the number of people who can do this is very, very few indeed, but it provides a fascinating glimpse into the North Korea visit by Google's chairman.

Government restructuring and ICT policy in Korea

In about two weeks I'm headed to the PTC13 Conference to deliver a paper, co-authored with Professor Jaemin Park, on "Government Restructuring and Its Impact on Innovation Capacity in Korea's ICT Sector." (see abstract here)  This has been a hotly debated topic ever since the Lee Myung Bak administration eliminated the powerful Ministry of Information and Communication in its sweeping 2008 governmental reorganization.  However, in the longer term and broader perspective, the question of ICT policy, which almost equates to broadband internet policy, is one that faces all countries as broadband internet has been widely accepted as an important ingredient in economic development and growth.
Professor Shin Dong Hee, who has published widely on ICT policy issues was recently interviewed by The Korea Times and reportedly urged that Korea adopt a "co-evolving IT model," through which government, business and academia realize a practical, user-centered direction.  In his interview, Professor Shin also stressed the need for Korea to meet global standards in "soft power," in order to achieve future success.
It will be interesting, indeed, to see how the incoming government of President Park Geun-hye structures its approach to ICT-policy.  The matter is challenging for several reasons, some of which I'll enumerate here.
1. ICT policy for Korea must be formulated and implemented with global realities in mind. These include technology standards as well as trade, economic and political factors.
2. Such policy must also take into account the interests of all stakeholders, including governmental, private sector and civil society representatives.  Indeed, in this era of burgeoning use of social media, efforts toward open government all around the world are incorporating citizens into the policy-making process.
3. Without totally ignoring the development of digital devices and hardware, on which South Korea's export-led development thrived, future policy will need to focus squarely on the challenge of developing the software and content side of the information industries.  Whether one considers big data, cloud computing, the internet of things, internet governance, or social media, all these phenomena underscore the centrality of content.
4.Future ICT policy should be based on a broad understanding and interpretation of convergence that acknowledges the pervasive impact of ICT throughout the economy as a general purpose technology.  Part of the problem in government policy making is that convergence means different things to different people, resulting in policies that may reflect narrow interpretations of what digital convergence is all about.

Why Google's Chairman Eric Schmidt is going to visit North Korea

The mainstream press is full of speculation about why Google's Eric Schmidt plans to visit North Korea, along with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, especially now that the U.S. State Department has publicly suggested that the visit is not a good idea at this time.  Instead of speculating about why Schmidt is planning to visit North Korea now, the press should be asking why he has waited so long to visit.   The possible reasons for his visit abound.
Google, as its beautiful globe visualization (see the prior post in this blog) shows, is well aware that Korea is divided and North Korea isolated, a situation that is at odds with its corporate mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Google also has active, ongoing interests in development and international issues such as illicit networks and fragile states.
Perhaps one of the most interesting possibilities being discussed as the reason for Schmidt's visit is the one noted in The Chosun Ilbo.   The paper reported that the South Korean government believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited Schmidt in order to change the image of his country and to persuade the U.S. to start dialogue. A government official here said, "By inviting the chairman of Google, which is the world's most open and innovative company, Kim probably wants to emphasize that his country isn't isolated and express his hope to engage in dialogue with the U.S."

DMZ, Digital Divide and the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics

When I posted Google's beautiful globe visualization of languages used to search the web around the world, it didn't occur to me to note that, like the iconic photograph from space of the Korean peninsula at night, the Google WebGL globe vividly illustrates Korea's division as a digital divide. Click on the accompanying graphic to see a full size version or go directly to Google's globe animation here and rotate it to hover over the Korean peninsula.
Readers of this blog will know that I've been interested in the status of the DMZ as a digital divide and the related question of the role of new digital media and communication generally in eventual Korean reunification.   The AP carried a story on the issue which was published today by USA Today, entitled "North Korea cracks down on knowledge smugglers."
All of this relates directly to the 2018 Winter Olympics to be hosted by Pyeongchang, a beautiful alpine city in Gangwon Province, the only province of South Korea that is divided by the demilitarized zone (DMZ).  The media attention that will predictably focus on Korea and Pyeongchang before and during the 2018 Winter Games will draw attention, as never before, to the political and human tragedy of Korea's continued division, for at least two reasons.  One is the new role of digital and social media in the Olympics, about which I've only begun to speculate, as in this 2011 post. 

Another, more important reason is that the 2018 Olympics will inevitably focus attention upon a reality that the mainstream news media and the whole world have chosen to address only sporadically and prefer to avoid, that the division of Korea is the last outstanding vestige of the Cold War in the world, a major obstacle to development of the entire Northeast Asian region, and a continuing human tragedy of untold proportions in the form of divided families. This  focus of attention is sure to occur, simply by virtue of the way that modern media and digital networks work.    One side effect of all this attention may well be to call more attention to the international proposal by the DMZ Forum to create a peace park in the DMZ (click on the graphic to see a larger version).  See my earlier post on the proposal.