Publication
[MIDAS] Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Western Awakening and the Korean Peninsula
In April, a periodical article by Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of Hanns Seidel Foundation's Korean office, "Russian Invasion of Ukraine - Western Awakening and the Korean Peninsula" was published in Midas.
Dr. Seliger analyzes the current situation in Russia and Ukraine in the first section of the article, claiming that, contrary to Putin's assumptions that he would win easily, people all over the world are rallying behind Ukraine, and President Zelensky has quickly risen as a hero.
In the next section, Dr. Seliger mentions that Ukraine's current situation is similar to that of pre-World War II Middle Europe. As a country that had a deep connection with Russia, Ukraine has maintained peace for a long time. However, after the 20th century, due to Russian nationalism and Putin's strengthening of revisionism, the maintenance of peace is getting difficult.
The third section also mentioned the ties between Ukraine and Russia, saying that even after Ukraine gained independence in 1991, it was difficult to maintain calm by repeating conflicts on two lines: pro-Western and pro-Russian. Although most of the public agreed to pursue a pro-Western approach, because of the opposition of Angela Merkel, Ukraine failed to join NATO, and still, many European politicians refuse Ukraine's accession to NATO.
In the last part, he discusses the effectiveness and vulnerability of international agreements. Ukraine, in the past, was the third-largest military power in the world with nuclear weapons but gave up all of its nuclear weapons on its own in exchange for full territorial approval. However, Russia eventually failed to abide by the treaty, and Ukraine is helplessly invaded by Russia due to the absence of a strong Western military alliance. This is reminiscent of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and he stressed that we should carefully look at what measures North Korea will take due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Dr. Bernhard Seliger, the head of the Hanns Seidel Foundation's Korean office (HSF), will publish a monthly article in Midas magazine for a year. For more information, please visit the Midas magazine website.
The full text of the article can be found here.