U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Korea for the first time since she was appointed, left for China after a busy schedule in which paid President Roh Moo-hyun a courtesy visit and met with National Security Council chairman Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. She also gestured as if taking into consideration sentiment within Korea, taking time out of her busy schedule to hold a debate with journalists from Internet media.
Rice’s East Asia tour of Japan, Korea and China is an opportunity to see just how much the Bush administration intends to resolve the currently stuck North Korean nuclear issue during its second term. With her rejection of North Korea’s demand that she rescind her “outpost of tyranny” statement, her words and actions were noteworthy. She once again confirmed that the U.S. has no intention to attack the North, and she said it was true that North Korea was a sovereign nation. Her “sovereign state” statement was not a repeal of her “outpost of tyranny” statement, as demanded by the North, but some analyze that it was diplomatic rhetoric aimed at creating an atmosphere for the reconvening of the six-party talks.
We have pressed that in order to resole the North Korean nuclear issue, North Korea must attend the six-party talks, and the U.S. must make the conditions in which Pyongyang could return to the table. The U.S. had to give one the conviction that there would be real progress, not just words. From that perspective, Rice’s comments have been insufficient and unable to break past principle. She reaffirmed that the U.S. and North Korea could hold bilateral talks within the framework of the six-party talks and discuss North Korea’s matters of concern, and that multilateral security guarantees could be given to the North, but she did not say anything new.
We must continue to pay attention to Rice’s comments in China, a nation that has played an active mediating role, including the sending of a special envoy to North Korea. We hope that Rice’s tour becomes, as much as possible, an opportunity to seriously consider the North Korean nuclear issue and look for real solution.
The Hankyoreh, 21 March 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (MRT)]
[Editorial] An Opportunity to Find A Real Solution to the Nuclear Issue |
