Naewna on May 5, 2018

What have Thais learnt from 2 Korean leaders’ meeting?

I have been following the news about North Korea and South Korea conflict. At the beginning of the year, everyone thought that the world would get into trouble because there might have been war between the U.S. and North Korea reflecting from the violent fight and imposing serious risks to the world.

Last Friday, Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader met Moon Jae-in, South Korean President. The world became more hopeful that the peace on the Korean Peninsula would come back.

I always follow the news. On Friday, I follow the news on TV. From my 3 Circle Theory, Thais should have 5 competencies as follows.

1. Functional Competency

2. Management Competency

3. Leadership Competency

4. Entrepreneurial Competency

5. Macro and Global Competency which is rarely mentioned.

Most Thais lack the fifth competency. Many people are good at Functional Competency. I have many opportunities to train those who have highly specialized knowledge like doctors, engineers and pharmacists. If they are trained to have Macro and Global Competency, they can understand the world and several situations. Then, they can be well-rounded. It is like T competency Theory. It means that they can have profound and wide knowledge.

I try to analyze the learning from this meeting of the 2 leaders as follows.

1. The starting point was from sport. South Korea hosted the winter Olympics. President Moon Jae-in intended to search for the conflict resolution. He invited Noth Korea to join and he did it. Sport promotes connection like People-to-People Diplomacy as the starting point. This should be the lesson for Thailand to solve the southern-bordered unrest. The sport should be used at both national and international level. Malaysia and Indonesia should be invited to join in the sport events in the 3 southern-bordered provinces. The Middle East should be also invited to join more sport events.

2. President Moon Jae-in used to have work experience as President Roh Moo-hyun’s secretary. Therefore, he had expertise and experience in which President Roh Moo-hyun met the North Korean leader but failed. The lesson learnt from failure provided him an opportunity to improve. He tries to learn from pain. The past failure helped him change his mindset that this time should succeed.

3. Kim Jong-un’s sister role was very important. She well represented North Korea in the winter Olympics held by South Korea. This led to friendlier climate of both countries relation.

4. Donald Trump should be given credit as his unpredictable leadership. He plays violent and diplomatic roles. Unlike the past U.S. Presidents, he accepted the meeting with Kim Jong-un. However, Obama always compromised. He sped up the boycott and used aggressive language. For example, he called North Korean leader as “Little Rocketman”. He used the word “Fire and Fury”. It means that he would set fire to North Korea.

5. UN Security Council’s boycott and the support from Xi Jinping caused North Korean economic crisis. The investment in the frequent rocket attack put North Korean economy into troubles. It matches with economics theory that a gain is at the expense of pain. The more investment in military led to lower budget for food. A lot of North Koreans became starving.

6. Two more stakeholders like Xi Jinping and Abe must be honored. Their expression promoted more roles in working with UN and the U.S. to pressure North Korea to negotiate.

7. Despite his 33 years of age, Kim Jong-un presented very impressive roles. He was both aggressive and diplomatic leader. His expression impressed the world. He had impressive quotation for the world.

8. The good relationship creation between 2 leaders was important. The meeting environment was not limited to official meeting. The casual discussion and cooperation in tree planting could also promote good relationship. The most important point was to create mutual trust. Trust was essential.

9. They must think whether a good start will lead to success. There were the same efforts on this in the past but lacked sustainability. They started but failed. How can this event prevent the repetition on the failed history? Moreover, it should lead to sustainable success.

10. My 2R’s Theory must be used as follows.

                -Reality

                -Relevance

North Korea should realize that the violent approaches can no longer be used because they cannot predict whether Trump will use violent response. In Obama’s age, the pressure was less than this. The economic situation became weaker because of the absolute and continuous boycott.

11. Trump presents himself as a world leader who can do what other past presidents could not. He thinks that he is smart and has a lot of ego. He thinks that he will get the Peace Nobel Prize.

12. The success should come from what North Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea want. It should be win-win. If North Korea eliminates nuclear weapon, can Kim’s family survive? He wants to make sure that after the nuclear weapons are eliminated, the U.S. will remove the troop out of the Korean Peninsula. China wants the U.S. to remove the troop out of the Korean Peninsula and does not want to take care of North Korea in case of war.

We must follow what will happen.

Prof. Dr. Chira Hongladarom

 

Source: Learning from Reality with Dr. Chira Column. Naewna.

             Saturday 5 May 2018, p.5

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https://cdn.gotoknow.org/assets/media/files/001/296/106/original_nn_eng_05052018.pdf?1526904041