[Editorial] U.S. Not Eager to Restart Six Party Talks

The United States as essentially rejected North Korea's proposal for a non-permanent bilateral format for discussing the counterfeiting issue, conveyed early last week during a meeting of representatives of the two countries in New York. The White House says the U.S. will "continue to take action to stop illegal activity" by North Korea. That shows you that nothing changed about the U.S.'s attitude after the contact made in New York, and that instead it is becoming even tougher. That is unfortunate.

The mood within the U.S. government, as reported in the media, is cause for much concern. According to the New York Times, "For years, hard-liners in the White House, particularly in vice president Dick Cheney's office, and some at the State Department, have argued that direct punitive action against North Korea was the only tactic that might force it to give up its nuclear weapons program." With that understanding, the hard-liners think the financial sanctions have been effective and are planning additional measures for pressuring Pyongyang.

Seeing how the U.S. has rejected the special consultative format the North has proposed, it is highly probable that report is accurate. The hard-liners who place greater importance on pressure than on negotiation through the six party talks have taken the lead in the Bush Administration's North Korea policy. Over the weekend president Bush, for the first time in a year, again referred to North Korea as part of an "axis of evil." That approach will invariably anger the North and make restarting the six party talks more difficult. On Monday the North's official Rodong Sinmun alleged that every time there are signs of progress with the six party talks, the U.S. builds obstacles by "fabricating" facts about issues such as human rights, counterfeiting, and drug trafficking. If you ignore the "fabricating" comment, that assessment is not entirely inaccurate.

The six party framework is a format for negotiating a resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue, built by the participating nations over a long period of time. That is why those nations, and in particular North Korea and the U.S., have an obligation to work for progress in the talks.

The Hankyoreh, 14 March 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]