Expert warns of danger of non-state actors

Prof. Stephen Van Evera By Kang Hyun-kyung The release of a South Korean fishing boat Wednesday (KST), which was hijacked by Somali pirates near the waters of Kenya’s Lamu Island last October, ironically coincided with a rocket attack on a Korean provincial reconstruction team’s (PRT) base in Charikar, Afghanistan. Such criminal attacks overseas have raised concerns over the role of non-state actors, including insurgents and pirates, and how they could pose a threat to Korean civilians and troops dispatched abroad. Stephen Van Evera, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), stressed that the threat of non-state actors spans the world. “I think that the danger of terrorism with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is the main threat that emanates from non-state actors,” he said in an email interview with The Korea Times. “The threat is very serious and commonly threatens the whole world.” Van Evera warned of the possible catastrophic consequences if the international community continues to remain silent over the threat from such “players.” “Much of the world now views efforts to prevent WMD terror as a spectator sport in which they are not involved. In fact, all will be badly hurt if anyone suffers a WMD attack,” Van Evera said. “This surely includes South Korea, whose prosperity depends on global prosperity.” His remarks came a day after the nation faced mixed consequences of non-state actors’ criminal activities. The PRT base in Charikar came under rocket attack early Wednesday. Five rockets were fired — two were found outside while the remaining three inside, and luckily no casualties were reported. The Wednesday attack was the third of its kind in the war-torn nation after Korean troops were stationed there. On the same day, 43 sailors of the Keummi 305, a South Korean trawler, were freed near the coast off the Horn of Africa after four months of captivity by Somali pirates. A foreign ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity that no ransom was given in return for the release of the ship and its sailors. The 241-ton fishing ship was one of eight South Korean vessels that have been seized by Somali pirates near the Gulf of Aden or in the Indian Ocean since April 2006. Koreans also have fallen victim to non-state actors’ attacks on land since 2004. In June 2004, an Islamist extremist group in Iraq kidnapped and beheaded Kim Sun-il, a translator and Christian missionary, in retaliation for Korea’s troop deployment in the Middle Eastern country. Three years later, Taliban insurgents kidnapped 23 Korean church workers. Two of them were killed, before the remaining 21 were returned to Korea after weeks of captivity. Koreans were also the victims of premeditated attacks by the terrorist group al-Qaida. In March 2009, a teenage suicide bomber, an al-Qaida operative, killed four South Korean tourists in Sana’a, Yemen. Three days later, a high-ranking Korean official, who went there to investigate the killings, escaped unhurt after an al-Qaida suicide bomber attacked a car carrying him and two other Koreans on a highway to the airport. Professor Van Evera warned of the grave threat al-Qaida and other non-state actors pose to the global economy. “WMD use anywhere on the planet will probably do grave harm to the world economy. If a WMD is ever used on the United States, there will be misguided calls to greatly restrict all movement of goods in to the United States,” he said. “This will be a huge blow to global prosperity.” Non-state actors: 한국인상대 해외무장세력위협 증가 소말리아 해적에 억류되었던 금미호가 4개월만에 풀려나던 날, 아프칸 우리군 PRT에는 로켓포 4발이 날아들었다. 한국인들이 공해와 군대가 파병된 외국영토에서 무장세력이나 해적과 같은 소위 non-state actors라고 불리는 비정부 행위자들에 의한 피해가 증가하고 있다는 것을 보여주는 사례들이다. 한국인들이 해외에서 알카에다와 같은 테러조직에 희생되는 경우도 있다. 예멘 현지언론에따르면 실제 2009년 예멘에서 자살폭탄에 희생된 한국인 관광객들과 정부 조사단을 대상으로 한 테러위협이 모두 알카에다 조직원에 의한 소행으로 밝혀지면서 한국인을 상대로한 무장세력의 위협이 증가하고 있다는 것을 보여준다. 2004년 이라크에서 현지 무장세력에 의해 납치 희생된 고김선일씨 사건이후 한국인이나 군을 상대로한 무장세력의 위협이 계속되고 있다. 현지 무장세력외에 2006년부터는 소말리아 해적들에 의해 총 8척의 한국선박이 피랍되었다가 풀려난 바 있다. 스테판 벤 이베라 MIT 대학 정치학과 교수는 코리아 타임스와의 인터뷰를 통해, 이들 비정부 행위자들이 대량살상무기를 획득하게 되는 경우 문제의 심각성은 특정 국가가 아닌 국제사회가 직면한 문제로 확대될 것이며 상황이 걷잡을 수 없게 될 것이라고 경고한다.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr