hankyoreh

The 21st round of cabinet-level talks between North and South Korea ended without agreement on anything at all. Relations with Pyongyang are running aground again, three months after relations, disrupted by North Korea's test of a nuclear device last October, were brought back to normal. Projects already agreed upon, mostly cooperation involving light industry and underground resources development, are supposed to continue. Still, the fact that talks this time got nowhere is going to have a considerable influence on the relationship.

The primary responsibility for what was essentially the breakdown of talks lies with the South. At the last round of cabinet-level talks, Seoul pledged Pyongyang it would provide aid in the form of rice, but immediately ahead of these latest talks it decided to postpone the first shipment because Pyongyang has not implemented the first step in the February 13 agreement. The main reason Pyongyang has not moved on implementation is because the issue of its money at Macao's Banco Delta Asia has yet to be resolved, but somehow the South holds the North responsible. Seoul's decision is unwise not only because it makes North-South relations subordinate to the six-party talks; it also does not help in resolving the problem of its money in Macao.

Using rice aid as a card at the negotiating table when the situation is not one requiring desperate measures is not the right approach. It would be particularly unfortunate if an attitude of dependency on the U.S. influenced this decision. The U.S. is South Korea's ally and a key player in the six-party talks, but Washington is not part of the relationship between North and South.

North Korea also has considerable responsibility to bear for being so inflexible. The Southern delegation thoroughly explained how it has not decided on a permanent halt on rice aid, and there was also consideration of aid in the form of corn that would be provided through an international organization, but the North refused to have a change of attitude. The result was that the two sides never got to discuss other items on the agenda, including future meetings between mutual state institutions, the resumption of talks between defense ministers, the phased opening of the two cross-border rail links, or the issue of South Korean abductees and POWs still in North Korea. Pyongyang is going to have an even harder time getting the rice aid it wants in the immediately foreseeable future. Pyongyang needs to think this over, in the context of how it will affect regular North Korean people.

The South Korean government now finds itself in a position where its North Korea policy, already lacking in consistency to begin with, is going to face strict criticism. It stalled these cabinet talks a mere ten or so days after the historical trial run of the rail link between the North and South Korea, making it difficult to write the next chapter of inter-Korean relations. The even bigger problem is that the South is denying its own ability to be independent in relations with Pyongyang. Increasing the scope of North-South relations will be essential in resolving the issues particular to the Korean peninsula, and would positively affect the work of resolving the North Korea nuclear issue. Despite this, the South Korean government chose a path that turns things back, and at a time when real issues such as discussing a peace regime for the Korean peninsula were getting closer. At the current juncture, serious introspection is needed.



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