hankyoreh

On Saturday, a cargo aircraft carrying North Korean-made missiles and other weapons was detained at a Thai airport and the weapons confiscated. Although the aircraft and its five crew members were all from former Soviet Union countries, it appears certain that the weapons intended for export were from North Korea since they originated from Pyongyang. The amount of weapons came to a considerable 35 tons. This unfavorable turn of events comes just after the visit of Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy.

Weapons exports by North Korea are in violation of a United Nations (UN) resolution adopted this past spring after the country had conducted a nuclear test. That resolution designates nearly all North Korea weapons as subject to an embargo. While North Korea does not recognize this resolution, UN member nations are obligated to abide by its content. As such, there may be a fair amount of conflict emerging between North Korea and other concerned nations in the future over the determinations made by the UN Sanctions Committee.

Another concern is the negative effect this may have on the resumption of six-party talks. North Korea had taken another step closer to returning to those talks with Bosworth’s visit of Dec. 8 that lasted until Dec. 10. Experts are predicting that talks will resume after an additional senior-level meeting between North Korea and the U.S. These developments mean that the U.S. and North Korea is on the verge of a consensus on the broader framework of the denuclearization process. Furthermore, if talks resume, it is expected that negotiations will be proceeding somewhat more effectively based on a reflection on past failures. However, some are saying this incident may cause a delay in the resumption of talks. If this incident has a negative effect on international opinion, we may see a repeat of the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) incident that took place around the time of the September 19 Joint Statement in 2005, which prevented the six-party talks from proceeding for nearly a year and a half.

Even if the international community moves to deal with the incident swiftly in accordance with the spirit of the UN resolution, it needs to ensure that there is no increase in needless conflict. It goes without saying that we must not have factions that favor a hard line on North Korea using the incident to thwart nuclear negotiations as happened with the BDA incident. Moreover, North Korea, for its part, should not engage in misguided stubbornness over facts that have already come to light. It needs to bear in mind that the international sanctions targeting it will ultimately go away only if headway is made in denuclearization.

If six-party talks are to restart and generate results, it is important that all parties involved work to maintain a balance and steadily build up trust even if some unforeseen incident takes place. North Korea in particular should view this incident as a test case for examining its approach.

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