The first stage of the fifth round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue that began early last month seem to be losing momentum, and that is cause for concern. To begin with, the formal contact between North Korea and the United States regarding U.S. economic sanctions that was scheduled for next weekend will not be happening. It is unclear whether the working-group and delegation heads meeting in Jeju that was discussed at the first stage will take place. Starting next week there are the "ASEAN + 3" and East Asian summit meetings coming up, so it looks like it will not be easy to have the fifth round of six-party talks reopen within the year.
The U.S. has the greater responsibility to bear for the failed attempt at contact between the U.S. and North Korea. A few days ago U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked whether the U.S. needed to hold bilateral talks with the North when it is counterfeiting American dollars. It is as if the U.S. is saying "there's nothing wrong with my behavior, so all you have to do is change yours." The North is worried about all-out economic sanctions by the U.S. with the fake dollars as pretext. It likely has an explanation to make and things it wants to say, but mutual confidence cannot be built by closing down the channels communication.
It is unnerving if the analysis that hard-liners in the U.S. are pulling in the reins to slow down the pace of U.S.-North Korean relations is true. It is widely accepted that chief U.S. delegate to the talks Christopher Hill's trip to Pyongyang failed to happen because of opposition from hard-liners. North Korea, for its part, is not being wise when it refuses to have contact with the Americans just because they are not official talks, because freeing itself of accusations that it is producing fake dollars would be the quickest way to put calls for economic sanctions to rest.
If the slowdown in momentum is neglected it could become difficult to continue the fifth round of talks at all. North Korea and the U.S. need to stop obsessing with format and meet for substantial dialogue. The South Korean government, in turn, needs to take the initiative and make sure the delegation heads' meeting takes place at an early date so that the framework for the next talks can be determined.
The Hankyoreh, 3 December 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] 6-Party Talks Must Not Lose Momentum |
