hankyoreh

It is a turning point for the Korean Peninsula for the United States to have decided to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. For starters, it resuscitates the nuclear negotiations that were at risk of falling apart and resumes the peninsular denuclearization process, because immediately after the U.S. announcement about the North’s delisting, Pyongyang immediately announced its intention to return to disablement. It looks like a round of six-party talks will begin in response to these actions on the part of the United States and North Korea, and with that we will enter the closing phase of what is called the second stage of denuclearization as described in the October 3 Agreement.

The move also means the United States and North Korea begin to go down the road to normalized ties, relations having been hostile between them for close to 60 years. The establishment of relations between Pyongyang and Washington was set as part of the final stage of the negotiation process in the October 3 Agreement of last year. While there are still many difficulties ahead, the delisting reaffirms the possibility.

This latest agreement between the United States and North Korea is of course not without some unresolved issues, namely the need for the North’s assent to the verification of undeclared nuclear facilities and the taking of samples from the Yongbyon nuclear facility. Those, however, are basically a matter of mutual confidence between the two countries. As seen in the North Korean foreign ministry spokesman’s statement that “what is important from now on is the complete withdrawal of U.S. policy hostile towards (North) Korea that caused us to produce our nuclear deterrent,” the North has invoked the threat of the United States overthrowing its government as its reason for developing nuclear capabilities. The United States, meanwhile, has long suspected North Korea of endlessly trying to deceive the international community. Having these two countries arrive at agreement after persistent bilateral talks shows you that the wall of distrust can be lowered. The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be fast-forwarded if, unlike the Bush administration, which wasted eight whole years, the incoming American administration can continue to amass this kind of confidence and pull the North ahead.

The Lee Myung-bak administration must exert more effort than it has so far to improve inter-Korean relations, in step with improving U.S.-North Korea relations. This administration has been hurting relations with the North by overturning the North Korea policies of the previous two administrations and adopting policies that upset Pyongyang. The thing is, there is no way the North is going to come and talk if it believes that such an administration is insincere towards it. If the South is going to demonstrate sincerity, it needs to state in clear terms that it recognizes existing agreements between the two sides such as the June 15 Joint Statement and the October 4 Joint Declaration.

The North, for its part, needs to carry out its obligations in good faith and restore the confidence of the international community and assume a bigger-minded approach to inter-Korean relations. It would be foolish for Pyongyang to seek tong mi bong nam (“through to the United States while blocking the South”) just because relations with the United States are improving, because even if relations with the international community improve, it is the South that can help the North the most.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]