(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on May 2)

North's reputation takes hit

When South Korea pointed out the illegality of the North???s move to detain
Hyundai Asan engineer Yu Song-jin for 34 days and counting, the North released
some statements of its own.

???We condemn the South Korean authorities who distort the true nature of the
situation and the unreasonable speech of the conservative press,???a spokesperson
at the Headquarters for Central Special Zone Development Guidance in North Korea
said.
The North is continuously asking for the impossible, with no justification
whatsoever.
There can be no better example of a wrongdoer scolding a do-gooder - or as the
Korean expression goes, a thief turning on the master with a club - than this.
The comments from the North didn't stop there, though.
???Our law has no mercy for those who violate the dignity and sovereignty we
people regard as our life,???the spokesperson said. "The institution is currently
continuing in-depth investigations.???
That seems to imply that the North plans to detain Yu longer, perhaps much longer.
Is North Korea a country that speaks of laws and rules but does not abide by
matters agreed upon with its neighbor? Why is North Korea utterly ignoring worker
rights previously agreed upon as it relates to the Kaesong Industrial Complex?
In its recent comments, North Korea also made a one-side statement about Yu.
???He slandered our highly dignified system filled with bad intent and violated
our sovereign rights,??? the spokesperson said.
This, too, is nothing more than self-righteous propaganda that ignores the
process that the South and the North agreed to. That process involves high-level
meetings between the two sides should an incident occur, even when a serious
criminal act is committed.
North Korea???s statement is not persuasive in the least from a moral
perspective, either. It does not even consider the agreement between the South
and the North to send back anyone who crossed over to the other side due to an
accident or any other situation.
If North Korea is aiming to increase its leverage in negotiations with the Untied
States by holding Yu and two U.S. journalists hostage, the country has completely
miscalculated. United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned
North Korea on March 30 that it ???is digging a deeper and deeper hole in the
international society.??? North Korea needs to know that there is no way it can
coexist in the world with other nations as long as it breaks international rules.
North Korea must first execute the matters agreed upon between South and North
Korea. It also must realize that the United States and the world are watching.
(END)