hankyoreh

As the policies of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for the Korean Peninsula gradually become more apparent, they are also making the lack of the unrealistic nature of the Lee Myung-bak administration’s North Korea policy become more apparent. Inter-Korean relations are on their way to collapse and still the administration is free off any concern. Forget any ability to respond in collected way -- it looks like the administration lacks even an ability to analyze the situation.

Just the other day, President-elect Obama said he is going to engage in resolute and direct diplomacy with Pyongyang to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue with substantive incentives and pressure. It is going to do what the administration of George W. Bush did not and go for proactive, direct high-level talks. The Center for American Progress, which has served as a think tank for Obama, has proposed that he send an emissary to the North within his first 100 days in office. This clearly shows you how the developing U.S.-North Korean relationship is high on the Obama administration’s agenda, despite claims to the contrary coming from people in the Lee Myung-bak administration. Donald Gross, former senior adviser to the Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs and an aide to Obama puts it in more concrete terms. At the Fourth Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium on November 20, he proposed a comprehensive solution that would simultaneously include the North’s denuclearization; the adoption of a peace agreement between the four nations of North and South Korea, the United States and China; the normalization of U.S.-North Korean ties; military talks between the North, the South and the United States; the establishment of a multi-party security cooperation organization for Northeast Asia, and agreements between the North and the South and between the North and Japan. The idea would be to include all the issues, whether political, economic, or security-related, in one, big new order where all are linked and resolved together.

There is no reason for the North not to respond favorably to these moves by the United States. The same goes for China and Russia. It is likely, therefore, that the Obama administration will seek dialogue that brings major changes for the peninsula and the region soon after Obama is sworn in. If the Lee administration insists on the same tone for its North Korea policy, it will bring about two fatal results. One is that Seoul will become isolated in discussions about the future of the peninsula and the region, and the other is the destruction of inter-Korean relations. It uniquely likes to stress the importance of stronger Seoul-Washington relations, but if that is not accompanied by a change in relations with Pyongyang, Seoul will have less room in which to maneuver.

Unable to just sit back and watch this happen, conservatives and progressives are all calling for a change in policy towards the North. Participants in an “Council for Normalization of Inter-Korean Relations” yesterday criticized the shortsightedness of the Lee administration’s approach. They called for the implementation of the June 15 and October 4 declarations and the giving of humanitarian aid. Unless it wants to place more importance on partisan interest than resolving the issues facing the state and the Korean people, the Lee administration has no reason to keep hanging on to a North Korea policy that is wrong.

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