The fourth round of six-party talks begins Tuesday. The delegations arrived Monday night and met separately do coordinate details such as the agenda and meeting procedures.
This current round of six-party talks commences with more positive factors in play than previously. It is the attitudes of North Korea and the United States that will determine success or failure, and both have become more flexible. The previous three six-party talks were so much about muscle flexing they seemed like "talks for the sake of talks," but this time you see hints of an earnest desire to resolve the issue at hand. We believe that if both the North and the US rid themselves of their long-held distrust negotiate based on recognition of each other there is no problem that cannot be resolved. The negotiation strategy should be that issues about which there is greater disagreement, such as enriched uranium, are worked on later while easier issues are worked on first. Instead of going around the circle and having everyone state their positions like has been done previously, it will be useful to break things down by the issue so that it is possible to have substantial discussion.
Our government has played a considerable role in getting the talks started again with its proposal about energy aid for the North. It needs to productively guide the atmosphere so that things do not go in circles and to assure there are concrete results. It needs to call on the participating nations to bear close to as much politically and economically as our "important declaration," and it needs to lead in a way that encourages a cooperative approach by the participating nations so that there is progress in the talks.
The current six-party talks are essentially going to be the last chance to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue diplomatically. If progress is slow or the talks fail to produce an agreement that ruinous hard-line approach to the North could raise its head again. We again call for the talks to resolve the immediate task of doing away with the North's nuclear program and achieving a denuclearized peninsula and then establish a firm foundation for peace and on the peninsula and a structure of peace in Northeast Asia by encouraging the North into the international community.
The Hankyoreh, 26 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] N. Korea, US Must Be Flexible |
