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July 27, 2018
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Shead graduate eyes rowboat diplomacy in Korea
by
Edward French

 

     A 1989 Shead High School graduate is hoping that his trip around the Korean Peninsula in a rowboat built at the Boat School in Eastport can help focus attention on resolving the current standoff between North and South Korea.
     Fifteen years ago, former Eastporter Jonathan Cowles, who now lives in Ipswich, Mass., finished rowing 2,000 miles along the South Korean coast in a 14' 9" Whitehall boat named Spirit of Hawaii as a citizen diplomatic initiative meant to encourage trust to help break the impasse. With the possible thawing of relations among North and South Korea and the U.S., as evidenced by the June summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the inter-Korean summit in April, Cowles has set his sights on finishing his trip by rowing the North Korean coast.
     "Rowing a diplomatic boat along the coast with a Korean team was meant to project the very best diplomatic and statesman-like qualities of America to be seen and heard by the people of Korea," says Cowles. "I wanted to show rowboat diplomacy rather than gunboat diplomacy."
     Cowles relates that he had been inspired to row the Korean coast after two girls were accidentally run over by a U.S. Army vehicle in 2002, which had sparked protests across South Korea. "Much of the trip was disguised as a simple rowing trip, and my teammate and I acted like a combination of Forrest Gump and Dumb and Dumber so as to stay away from anything political that would obstruct efforts," says Cowles. He says he had appealed directly to then President Roh Moo-hyun, who had "adopted the project behind the scenes, though I still had to row every mile."
     Then in 2004 he primarily authored and also delivered a proposed sister-city relationship between Honolulu and the North Korean capital of Pyongyang "to help bridge the trust gap and break stalled six-nation talks." In 2003 and 2004 discussions began with a number of North Korean offices to continue the rowboat project along the coast of North Korea. Plans were developed to have border ceremonies at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that serves as a buffer between North and South Korea, with navy ships from the two countries escorting the rowboat across the border. However, the plans were set aside because of the tense political climate. Cowles says the lack of diplomatic initiatives during this time permitted North Korea during the following 15 years to build up a nuclear program. "Inaction as statesmen has vastly increased the stakes of negotiation now, when 15 years ago the issue could have been more easily and directly resolved," he believes.
"     Since 2004 I have worked behind the scenes to try to resolve Korean Peninsula issues in a neutral statesman-like manner transcending special interests," Cowles says. "The hurdles of the current peace treaty are still formidable, and all the help possible is needed to ensure success. Political gridlock and special interests in this country almost guarantee massive hurdles, rather like having six pollock on a handline all swimming in opposite directions."
     Cowles is hoping to complete his rowing trip as a symbolic American diplomatic gesture. "It isn't about rowing a boat," he notes. "It's about showing the Korean Peninsula that there is another side to what it means to be an American. I hope the efforts inspire statesmanship  because some of this has nothing to do with North Korea. It isn't about North Koreans and Chinese, it is about how we as Americans behave and how we handle issues as a nation. Now of all times, it is necessary for America to show its ability to lead the world stage to transcend regional grievances, retribution, our country's industrial special interests, to lead a peace that not only resolves a 68-year war, but also does things like disempowers an ever more aggressive China."
     Cowles believes that, since the Korean War ceasefire in 1953, controlling special interests have undermined any peace talks for their own benefit, but now, for the first time, "the stars are in alignment" for a resolution and a peace treaty. "There is a Liberal in South Korea with the Sunshine Policy, President Trump willing to talk instead of continuing the special interest line and North Korea also willing to sit down and talk," he says. He argues, "We will benefit 100 times more as a nation internationally in Asia by showing another kind of U.S. power and influence  instead of the back-room arm twisting that President Roh experienced to buy U.S.-made jets or the pressured missile defense system sales to Japan."
     "The American public needs to understand this greater picture so that senators who might otherwise be led astray by special interests get it right when it comes time to ratify a peace treaty," says Cowles. "If the right Americans are involved in the process then a great step forward can happen and the U.S. can gain great face and strategic position in Asia. But if the special interests set their hooks, then the world will see business as usual, and America will have missed out on significant opportunities."
     In the U.S., the Democrats and Republicans, who he says "can't even tie their own shoes because they have to argue about it," need to come together to support normalizing relations. Also, he says every nation that is involved with the U.N. command in South Korea "needs to be involved with unraveling this huge knot that's like a fisherman's knot."
     With the diplomatic initiative and the presidents of North and South Korea and the U.S. sitting down at the same table, Cowles says he needs to throw his own weight behind the efforts, "even though my weight is only a rowboat." He adds, "Now is the most vulnerable and sensitive time," with a window of opportunity that he believes might not come again for another 65 years for normalizing relations between North and South Korea and the U.S.
     Noting that his Boat School rowboat has been sitting and waiting, pointed north, for 15 years in a building near the DMZ in South Korea, Cowles says of the current efforts to break through the impasse, "I'm very hopeful."

 

 

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