[Editorial] Put An End to Conflict Over Counterfeiting, Sanctions

The six party talks are going nowhere while discord between North Korea and the United States over counterfeit dollars and financial sanctions continues for months on end. It is time the nations party to the talks see the situation for what it is and actively work to resolve the problems at hand.

It is meaningful progress to have the North Korean foreign ministry announce that it is going to "actively cooperate in international anti-money laundering activities," because while it did not admit to American allegations, it showed a profoundly changed attitude compared to before. We hope to see the North go further and answer to the various allegations and take action where appropriate. Labeling all suspicions "American fabrications" is not the way to a solution.

The U.S., for its part, needs to soften its hard-line approach. The U.S. State Department called the North's pledge a "fine commitment," but it also said it "calls… on the North Korean Government to cease all such activities." By the looks of it that would mean the U.S. intends to keep pushing on the North until it raises both hands in the air. That makes it hard for the U.S. to win support from the international community. The evidence the Americans have shown so far is not 100 percent conclusive and much about it is things from the past that are already known, and so the situation is such that there are fears the U.S. is using the forgery issue for political reasons.

Just as distrust between the U.S. and North Korea is the biggest reason there has not been any real progress with the six party talks, that same distrust stands in the way of resolving the discord over counterfeiting and financial sanctions. The U.S. thinks the North is deceiving it, and the North thinks the U.S. has begun an all out program of causing it to collapse. Everything that has come out of the six party talks could be lost if each side continues to dwell only on the other's ill will.

The North Korean nuclear issue is an important one not just for the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, but also for the whole world. All nations party to the process have an obligation to actively cooperate on making sure the talks do not lose momentum. One first hopes to see the controversy over counterfeiting and sanctions out of the way.

The Hankyoreh, 13 February 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]