[Editorial] The path to six-party talks

Posted on : 2011-08-01 15:04 KST Modified on : 2011-08-01 15:04 KST

Observers have called the results of last weekend’s high-level talks between North Korea and the United States “not bad.” It was initially announced that they would be preliminary talks to explore their counterpart’s intentions, and, accordingly, they did not produce any concrete results. But the overall assessment after the meeting between both countries’ representatives was a hopeful one, and the prospects for continued dialogue and a resumption of the six-party talks appear somewhat brighter.
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth said the dialogue was an occasion for examining whether Pyongyang was willing to take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization. In that regard, he said, the dialogue was “constructive” and “businesslike.” Bosworth also said there would be discussions with the U.S.’s partners in the six-party talks toward the next stage. North Korea appears to have presented some ideas or stance that could be taken as indicating that it was okay for the U.S. to go on negotiating. North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan called the talks “very constructive and businesslike” and said he would “continue with the linkage in the future.” It may be the case that Pyongyang brought up the issues of discussions toward peace talks, normalization of North Korea-U.S. relations, the lifting of sanctions, and food aid, and took a favorable view of Washington’s response.
However, given how complex the North Korean nuclear issue is and how it is linked with inter-Korean relations, it appears unlikely that things will go ahead at full bore. But they do not appear likely to drag out, either. With a presidential election taking place in 2012, the Barack Obama administration in the U.S. is showing signs of reexamining its policies of strategic patience and indifference toward Pyongyang. China, which has consistently called for a resumption of the six-party talks, is also likely to welcome this. South Korea’s Senior Representative Wi Sung-lac said that the next stage of North Korea-U.S. contacts would be “laid out within the next few weeks,” adding that “we are now moving toward a new stage of dialogue.”
The latest North Korea-U.S. meeting took place one week after an inter-Korean meeting at the ASEAN Regional forum. It corresponds to the second stage in a three-stage plan for resumption of the six-party talks as agreed upon by the countries involved in the talks. Before any consideration of its content, the very format of the New York City meeting, taking place quickly on the heels of the first stage, gave the impression that Washington is hurrying to resume the six-party talks.
But this marks only the beginning stages, with a lot of road left to travel. The key will ultimately be the attitudes in Seoul and Pyongyang. If they do not adopt a wise approach to resolving the Cheonan, Yeonpyeong Island, and denuclearization issues, South Korea could find itself a stumbling block to the six-party talks, or end up in the position of being shut out by Pyongyang in favor of direct contact with Washington. North Korea needs to bear in mind that it will not be able to accomplish anything if it focuses solely on improving relations with the United States and regards dialogue with South Korea as little more than a stepping stone toward that.
  
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