Reconsidering S Korea’s Position as N Korea, US Resume Dialogue
EDITORIAL
BY HANKYOREH
Changes are proceeding apace in the political situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula. After numerous multi-layered conciliatory measures from North Korea, following a visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.S. and North Korea have finally declared plans to engage in bilateral dialogue.
Philip J. Crowley, assistant secretary of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Public Affairs, made it clear in a regular briefing last weekend that both countries have consented to talks and that a decision on a time and place will be determined within the next two weeks.
Although the U.S. is limiting the character of these talks to an attempt to bring North Korea back to the six-party talks, the significance of these talks should not be taken lightly in that they will represent the first real dialogue between the two countries during U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration. Hopes had been high for rapid advancements in North Korea-U.S. relations with the arrival of this administration, which has been advocating dialogue as a way to resolve international conflict, but it has taken some nine months to get the two countries to this point following North Korea’s policy of hardline confrontation witnessed with its rocket launch in April. It is a shame that so much time and energy has been lost to reconnaissance, but the upside to things is that there is a greater understanding of the need for a solution.
Peace on the Korean Peninsula, the only region in the world still caught up in a 20th century-style Cold War, is impossible without a simultaneous resolution regarding North Korea’s nuclear program and its concerns about the stability of its system. In that sense, both North Korea and the U.S. need to approach these talks as an occasion to lay the groundwork for peace on the peninsula and to bring back the six-party talks, which made considerable headway towards resolving these issues. The issue of North Korea’s nuclear program has been under discussion for the past 20 years. The parties involved cannot keep spinning their wheels.
For bilateral talks between North Korea and the U.S. to produce any results, the governments of interested nations, in particular those of Japan and South Korea, urgently need to adopt a future-oriented approach. Their hardline positions on North Korea have thus far been an obstacle to solving the North Korean nuclear issue. Some signs of change are in the air, however. For example, the Democratic Party of Japan that will be taking over on the government on Wednesday has opened up the possibility for dialogue with North Korea. In contrast, President Lee Myung-bak insists on adhering to his present policy tone even while acknowledging that the current trend of change represents “both a momentous turning point and a period of upheaval for inter-Korean relations.”
This cannot be seen as anything but a shame. The Korean Peninsula is entering a period of upheaval in which the peace process that began after the 2000 inter-Korean summit, but was halted when the George W. Bush administration took office in the U.S., is once again gaining steam. South Korea’s government should be playing the role of a core participant at this time, but if the Lee administration gets trapped in outdated ways of thinking and is unable to keep up with the changes, it will commit foolishness by making us bystanders of our own issues. The government’s North Korea policy should be reexamined at once.
Hankyoreh – September 14, 2009
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