[Editorial] The U.S. Didn't Even Want to Meet NK's Representative

The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) has ended in Tokyo with no progress being made on restarting the six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Despite mediation attempts by China and South Korea, United States Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill refused to even meet with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan. By the looks of it, restarting the six party process could actually be to be more difficult than it would have been before the meeting in Tokyo.

Members of the Bush Administration said there was no reason to meet with the North unless it arrived with a date in hand for when it was willing to have another round of six party talks. Hill's attitude can be understood in that context. The hardliners and the moderates have unified their approaches, and are placing more emphasis on pressuring the North than negotiating with it. It is highly likely that Pyongyang will see that as an attempt to force it to "surrender," which in turn will not be helpful in restarting the talks or, for that matter, in resolving the counterfeiting issue the Americans are interested in. The U.S. needs to seriously think again about whether its uncompromising attitude is the right approach.

The North, for its part, needs to stop automatically questioning the motives behind U.S. pressure. One thing it might do in the current situation would be to start by initiating responsible measures regarding the counterfeiting issue and by doing so take away from some of the justification for American pressure. Having seen whether the U.S. removes or relaxes its financial sanctions, it could then question the motives. The more important fact here is if the six party talks don't start up again, everything relating to the future of the Korean peninsula will move in a direction disadvantageous to Pyongyang, from the Nuclear issue to establishing a peace regime on the peninsula and economic cooperation. If it truly wants to give up its nuclear programs, there no reason for the other nations party to the process not to respond favorably.

South Korea and China now have increasingly important roles to play. Of immediate note are the intra-Korean ministerial talks coming next week and the U.S.-China summit. The countries participating in the six party talks need to pool their wisdom together to see that they open again.

The Hankyoreh, 13 April 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]