hankyoreh

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, visits North Korea today as a special envoy of U.S. President Barack Obama. This marks 10 months since the launch of the Obama administration, and four months since former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited North Korea. Since sufficient time has passed for preparations for this dialogue, we are hoping for positive results.

The U.S. and South Korean governments say the agenda for the talks is to press for resuming six-party talks and ensure the execution of the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks. They have also drawn a line, saying this is not a “bilateral negotiation” as demanded by North Korea. This claim is in some ways reasonable for if the U.S. and North Korea were to conduct give-and-take negotiations when North Korea has not clearly expressed its intention to return to the six-party talks, it could obscure the future of the six-party talks and the North Korea nuclear issue as a whole.

This discussion, however, should not end simply with the U.S. conveying its own position and demands. The primary reason why the six-party talks have repeatedly stalled up until now is that the two sides’ demands and intentions to realize agreements differ, and behind that is deep-seeded mistrust. It would be difficult to hope for smooth progress even if the six-party talks were restart if basic trust cannot be secured at this time. Accordingly, building trust must be one of the main goals of this dialogue.

More than anything, Bosworth must convincingly present North Korea with what it could hope to gain. Even if actual talks do not resume until later, only when the two sides are able to create a consensus about the big picture will the decision be likely that North Korea will return to the six-party talks. In addition, in regards to the related issues of signing a peace treaty and building a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula as discussed recently by North Korea, we hope that these are not aimlessly delayed as some future task. Indeed, we hope instead that the U.S. presents its concept and draws in North Korea’s agreement.

North Korea must know that now is the right time to return to the six-party talks. Ever since President Obama has pledged a “world without nuclear weapons,” the will of participating nations to denuclearize is higher than ever. The Obama administration is also more open to negotiations on the North Korea nuclear issue than any previous U.S. administration. Moreover, the international community will be watching what attitude North Korea adopts and deciding whether to continue with sanctions.

Some quarters are predicting that following this dialogue the two sides will meet one more time and will raise the level of the bilateral talks. Even if there ends up being such a need, the two sides must use this time to conduct conversations sufficient enough to draw out a framework. Also, relevant nations, of course, including ours, must actively cooperate to ensure that the two countries’ dialogue is productive.

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