By Romy Kerwin.
To The Right Honourable Kim Sung-hwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Having participated in Global discussions groups and listened to all view
points, I have reached a conclusion on what I really believe about two
questions which are so much on the Korean psyche.
The first one is about installing Casinos in South Korea.
I certainly disagree with Mr. Sheldon Adelson of ” Las Vegas Sands ” about
the economic effects of such proposition.
Mr. Adelson is telling you that a casino worked very well in Singapore. It
might be so but Singapore is not Seoul. It is a City State with a lot of
money to burn. My Vietnamese husband long ago ( he was killed in Vietnam )
used to tell me that gambling was the curse of Asian people.
When one sees all the casinos, which have been operating in Asia, such as
Macao and other such islands, there are reasons to worry. Many households
in Korea are heavily in debts, it would be very tempting for them to go to
casinos to try to win the money that they cannot make. The social distress
and emotional repercussions would be lamentable. Casinos will attract the
mafia and other organized crimes. When these groups have taken roots, they
are nearly impossible to remove.
Singapore is a rich country, which can afford to lose money, Korea is not.
You have done so much to become a fully developed nation, the envy of the
developing world that it would be wrong to lose momemtum at this point in
your History.
I am going to Peru next month. Lima is a poor city, except for some posh
neighbourhoods and some blue collar ones that generate revenue, such as the
very ugly Victoria. The casinos in Lima are guarded with great security.
Unfortunately, many families lose their livelihood in these places of
gambling.
It is as much a moral issue as it is a social issue. There are too many
suicides in Korea already, too much smoking and drinking, illegal brothels
and sexual issues involving underage prostitutes who would sell their bodies
willingly to acquire Louis Vuitton bags.
When a country develops as fast as Korea has, there are always steps
skipped, such as the development of morality, corruption, etc.
Why add more temptation and the possibility of more suicides ? Please
forget this insane idea for Casinos or make them only available to tourists
as they are now.
My second preoccupation are the polls that suggest that as many as seven out
of ten people in South Korea think that the country should develop nuclear
weapons. That is wrong. It would lead to an arm race on the Korean
Peninsula. I agree with Mr. Robert Galluci and Gary Samore that the US
umbrella is sufficient to protect South Korea. How could you live in peace
in a region dominated by nuclear armaments ?
If you have them, you might use them.
North Korea is an aberration and this county alone necessitates much
diplomacy and containment. Unlike many Koreans, I am practically certain
that North Korea will never ” nuke ” South Korea. They use awful rhetoric
but it is just that, rhetoric. North Korea is not suicidal. They want
nuclear weapons for reassurance and the ” glory ” of being a nuclear state.
In my mind, the best way to act is to accept them as a nuclear state, so
that there will be less provocations. Le us face it, they are already
advanced enough to be called ” nuclear ” state.
I remember what you have done with the Zaytun Unit in Iraq. Could it be
possible to help NK with their infrastructure so that they would open their
markets, become more affluent and slowly but surely abandon their warrior
state of mind ?
The solution is not more nuclear weapons and an irrational need to get
involved in a nuclear race but to open channels of communication if it
becomes possible. The right answer is LESS nuclear weapons.
Why would North Korea want to destroy South Korea and at the same time be
destroyed in the process ?
It will not happen.
Keep your heads cool. Sanctions will not work either. Iran is a good
example. When there is a will, there is always a way. We must destroy the
will, not the way.
