hankyoreh

President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama held a bilateral summit meeting yesterday while in London for the G20 summit. It is their first meeting since Obama was inaugurated, and primarily served to give introductions to each other. They met for a mere 30 minutes, fit within a busy schedule of discussions on multilateral agreements. It does not seem as though they got to discuss any of the issues between the two countries. Since trust between leaders is just as important as policy and ideology in any two countries’ relations, it is nonetheless significant that the two men got to meet--all the more so because their ideas and policies differ and some have worried it might be hard for them to work together on various issues.

The two leaders exchanged views on North Korea, overcoming the global financial crisis, the US-Korea alliance, climate change, reconstructing Afghanistan and other areas of global cooperation. It is reported they spent most of their time talking about North Korea policy, since Pyongyang’s “satellite launch” is just around the corner. A Blue House official later announced that they agreed on cooperating for the complete and verifiable dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear programs. They also agreed to put forth a “strict and united” response in the case that the North does launch a long-range missile, the international community needs to put forth a “strict and united” response. One high-ranking government official explained that meant they would see to it the United Nations Security Council discusses any missile launch, but that they would continue to work for the resumption of the six-party talks. They sought such an agreement because China and Russia have said they oppose UN sanctions and the US says it wants to place greater weight on resolving the issue of North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities through dialogue. This joint response, then, is a realistic one.

The problem, then, is what to do after a “satellite” launch. It looks like there will be tension for some time to come if the international community, and countries related to the issue (wishes to) enact some level of sanctions and Pyongyang responds in anger. However, all the countries except North Korea are in agreement about resuming the six-party talks process. Now that our government together with President Obama, has decided on its position issuing a warning appropriate to the situation while maintaining efforts to resume talks, it should work closely with the other countries in order to make the six-party talks process happen.

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