[Editorial] APEC sees proper mood for six-party talks

The APEC meeting in Hanoi was significant in that it contributed to an atmosphere that may see the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue. Leaders issued a verbal statement stating their desire to have a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue and for "concrete and effective steps toward full implementation of the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement and the early resumption of the six-party talks." The principle of a peaceful resolution to the six-party talks was reaffirmed at bilateral meetings involving the leaders of the U.S., China, and Japan, as well.

The U.S.-Korea summit provided a green light for the six-party dialogue, which looks like it will be held next month. Following the summit, U.S. president George W. Bush said he hoped North Korea’s leader would understand that the U.S. would talk about economic incentives and a security guarantee once Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons and ambitions. While he issued conditions, he was stating, on the international stage, that the U.S. is willing to give the North what it wants more than anything: a guarantee of security and economic incentives. That is encouraging, even if it needs to be stated more specifically. It is considerably different from approach the U.S. has taken so far since Pyongyang’s nuclear test, an approach that has been all about pressure in the form of UN Security Council sanctions and the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). It can be interpreted as an expression of U.S. intent to work to make progress at the six-party talks. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the two nations might be able to announce an official end to the Korean War if the North gives up its nuclear program, and that gets into the specifics of what a security guarantee might include. It will likely also serve as something positive in the establishment of stability and peace on the Korean peninsula that the U.S. has said it accepts and respects the Korean government’s decision not to fully participate in the PSI.

It will be important from now on that the U.S., North Korea, and other nations participating in the six-party process achieve progress by keeping the current mood and dynamism alive. This will require mutual respect and refraining from saying things that are provocative. The recent statement from Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland is of no help at all when it calls the South’s decision to vote in favor of a UN resolution on North Korean human rights an "unforgivable anti-reunification maneuver" that will "turn North-South relations upside down." Pyongyang needs to take the international community’s concerns about human rights seriously and declare openly that it desires to resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue.

Please direct questions or comments to [[e-mail]]