hankyoreh

On May 5, South Korean President Park Geun-hye will travel to the US for a summit with US President Barack Obama on May 7. This is the first summit that will take place between the two countries since Park became president. It will also be Park’s first overseas trip as president.

Government sources are saying that the main items on the agenda for the summit will be the search for solutions to pressing issues related to North Korea and the situation on the Korean peninsula; strengthening the US-ROK alliance, which is now in its 60th year; and discussing the Seoul Process, which is South Korea’s plan for multilateral collaboration in Northeast Asia.

Other items that are likely to come up during the discussion are the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP), the atomic energy agreement between the two countries, the transfer of wartime operational control, and the issue of defense cost sharing.

Park described the Seoul Process as “a plan for the countries in Northeast Asia, as well as the US, to try to create a system for multilateral cooperation.”

While this is not the first time such an attempt has been made, if the legitimacy of the plan were guaranteed during the meeting, it appears that it would have some effect in the mid and long term.

With regard to the KORUS FTA, it is hoped that the Park will fulfill her administration’s promise to bring about renegotiations of the toxic investor-state dispute clause.

As for the atomic energy agreement and the transfer of wartime operational control, all Park need do is stick to principle.

The most important issue is finding a solution to the security crisis on the Korean peninsula and the issue of the North Korean nuclear and missile programs, which have taken a turn for the worse over the past few months. In response to these developments, the US has been asking China to put pressure on the North and persuade them not to act in this way, even while it declines to take an active role in the situation. One might call this outsourcing diplomacy.

This attitude lies behind the US’s actions even when it outwardly claims to respect the South Korean government’s policy toward the North. At least as long as there is a US military presence in Northeast Asia and the Pacific region, it will be difficult for any issue connected with the Korean peninsula to be resolved without US engagement. If the Obama administration continues to remain effectively a bystander, as it has for the past four years, the situation is sure to deteriorate.

The recent crisis has confirmed the fact that no solution can be found to the issues of North Korean nuclear weapons and missiles without a discussion of a peace regime for the Korean peninsula. While a peace regime would combine a variety of provisions, the relationship between North Korea and South Korea, and between North Korea and the US, would be at the heart of it.

For this reason, the impetus for discussion of a peace regime must be provided by South Korea and the US, and the upcoming summit meeting must be the place where the framework for that discussion is made. While Park had proclaimed the trust process for the Korean peninsula as her policy for North Korea, it is not clear how it is different from the policies of previous administrations, which did little more than wait in vain for the North to surrender.

Park needs to beef up her plan with specific and proactive ways to build trust with the North, including discussing a peace regime. Relations between the North and South will be able to improve naturally along the way.

The development of the critical issues affecting the Korean peninsula depends to a great extent on how the US and South Korea act now. We hope that the two countries will find a breakthrough.

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