hankyoreh

Domestic and foreign policy changes have been under way in North Korea since Kim Jong-un took power. If his father and predecessor Kim Jong-il's focus was on Songun (“military first”) policies, then the younger Kim's is on improving the lives of the people. In short, these are "economy first" policies.
Examples were seen with his sacking last month of former People's Army Chief of General Staff Ri Yong-ho, a conservative military man and key figure in Kim Jong-il’s Songun approach, and his reforms to the country's economic leadership system, with the Cabinet uniting policy functions from the party, government, and military in a single “economic command headquarters.”
The country has also been sending a clear message to the rest of the world. In April, it immediately acknowledged the failure of its rocket launch. In July, Kim Jong-un's wife Ri Sol-ju appeared in public. Both were clear breaks from the secretive behavior of the past. Meanwhile, a Mickey Mouse character appeared in a performance by the new Moranbong Orchestra, and television footage showed young women singing in short skirts and high heels. All of these were most likely intended to demonstrate the new regime’s openness to the international community.
Pyongyang has also been working busily to make diplomatic contact with the United States, China, and Japan. A few days ago, Jang Song-taek, the country's second-in-command, arrived in China as head of a fifty-person delegation. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said they were there to take part in talks on joint development and administration of the Rason Special Economic Zone and Hwanggumpyong/Wihwa special economic zone.
Judging from the delegation's makeup and itinerary, however, it's likely they will be discussing a broad range of cooperation issues, including a possible visit to China by Kim Jong-un.
Pyongyang is also reportedly pushing to resume intergovernmental talks with Tokyo, too, the first in four years. The stated reason has to do with the repatriation of the remains of Japanese soldiers from North Korea. Meanwhile, Pyongyang has been making continued efforts to open windows for dialogue with the US since the April rocket launch.
So North Korea is hard at work getting in touch with other countries. Every country, it seems, but South Korea. A lot of this has to do with its refusal to engage with a government that is taking a hard line against it. Pyongyang may be pushing major changes in its domestic and foreign policies, but it remains unremitting in its overt slander and terrorist threats against South Korea. Any efforts to improve ties with other countries will inevitably be hamstrung without reconciliation and cooperation between North and South. It is a poorly judged approach. In the final analysis, South Korea is the one country that can really help North Korea.
Seoul, for its part, has left itself with no room to respond adequately to these changes, thanks to the May 24 measures taken after the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan warship.
Rather than tying itself in knots of "principle," it needs to do the wise thing and work on the easy, humanitarian-oriented areas of inter-Korean relations: support for the North's flood-stricken population, reunions of separated families, and a resumption of the Mt. Kumgang tourism venture. The administration has just six months left in office, and the presidential campaign is set to begin. This really is the last chance to change our North Korea policy. The administration needs to keep this in mind.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr