Recently, we have been seeing more and more news about North Korea. There have been two main currents in this news. One has had to do with the difficulties within North Korea, and the other with efforts to bring North Korea back to six-party talks in order to reach a resolution for the nuclear issue. Aspects of both of these currents could change depending on the attitude shown by the North Korean government. This is a time in which the country especially needs the resolve to return to six-party talks.
It appears that things are headed in the direction of resuming six-party talks. To begin with, Wang Jiarui, director of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is currently visiting North Korea. Following upon the heels of another visit two months ago by U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth, this is part of an effort to clear the way for resuming the talks. The first-ever visit by a special envoy for United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. In addition to these visits, North Korea made the decision a few days ago to free Robert Park, a Korean-American human rights activist who was caught entering the country illegally across the Tumen River on Dec. 25 of last year. Inter-Korean working-level talks are also set to begin in Kaesong today to discuss resumption of tourism projects at Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong. Additionally, recently noted efforts aimed at an inter-Korean summit are raising the likelihood of changes in inter-Korean relations.
It is too early for optimism, however. North Korea has continued to state that it will only return to six-party talks if the sanctions against it are lifted and headway is made in discussions on a peace agreement. It also wants to receive a substantial amount of international aid necessary to relieve its current economic difficulties. These demands are a long way from the positions of other participant nations, which feel that the talks must resume prior to agreeing to these conditions.
Of course, the potential exists for both sides to find some common ground. One way would be to officially agree to resume talks after agreeing upon on a broad schedule for discussions on denuclearization and a peace agreement. Even if the ending sanctions against North Korea, which requires UN-level discussions, is put off until after the talks resume, the humanitarian aid could at least be provided prior to resuming talks. The precondition for aid would be securing North Korea’s intent to denuclearize. The international community will only proceed into concrete action once it can in some way confirm North Korea’s intentions.
The will of six-party talks nations to resolve the nuclear issue through negotiation is stronger than ever. This is a good time and opportunity for North Korea to relieve its security concerns and reestablish a relationship with the international community. The country is currently suffering through unprecedented economic hardship that could worsen with impending economic sanctions it could receive from the international community combined with its recent failed currency reforms. Under these circumstances, deepening conflict surrounding the nuclear issue would mean greater difficulties for the North Korean administration, to say nothing of the North Korean people. For North Korea’s own sake, the sooner the six-party talks resume the better.
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