[Column] Biden needs to support inter-Korean relations

Posted on : 2021-05-13 17:27 KST Modified on : 2021-05-13 17:27 KST
The US could help create momentum for restarting the Korean Peninsula peace process
Kim Sung-bae
Kim Sung-bae

By Kim Sung-bae, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy

The Biden administration has finally unveiled its North Korea policy. So far, we’ve only seen the outline of the policy, and even that came in a background briefing by an anonymous official. But since that briefing was consistent with what the South Korean government has been told, down to the nouns, adjectives, and verbs that were used, it’s safe to say the gist of the policy has been revealed.

As expected, the policy doesn’t include anything surprising. But considerable aspects should be seen as encouraging. Particularly notable is the US’s decision to uphold the Singapore statement.

If the Biden administration had disregarded that statement, which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed, Pyongyang would probably have refused to deal with it at all. So this means we don’t have to start over from scratch on the nuclear talks.

The “practical approach” mentioned here can be seen as basically amounting to a step-by-step approach. Given North Korea’s nuclear capacity, “phased and synchronous action” is our only option.

That’s fortunate since one of the reasons for the rupture of the second North Korea-US summit, in Hanoi, was the “all or nothing” approach taken by then-White House national security advisor John Bolton.

The Biden administration also left open the possibility of easing sanctions, a key issue for Kim Jong-un.

Reports suggest that Japan stubbornly pushed for the inclusion of a phrase about “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” in its deliberations with South Korea and the US, but the Biden administration opted instead for the phrase “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

In the past, the Biden administration has created confusion by alternating between “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and “the denuclearization of North Korea,” but now it has standardized usage around the former phrase.

“The denuclearization of North Korea” evokes an image of Pyongyang unilaterally laying down its nuclear weapons, but “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the phrase used in the Singapore statement, connotes the continuing nature of denuclearization talks.

Though North Korea has yet to offer a concrete response, its confirmation that it has “received” the Biden administration’s offer to explain its North Korea policy suggests that the North will take some time to think things over. On previous occasions when the North has gotten a major offer from the US, it has generally taken time to gather information and sound out the US’s motivations through various channels.

There will presumably be at least one meeting between the North Koreans and Americans about the US’s new North Korea policy. Rather than going through low-level officials in the New York channel, the North is more likely to ask one of the key officials in the Biden administration to personally provide the explanation.

I think the South Korean government played a major role in reaching this conclusion. The fact is that members of the Biden administration were reluctant to uphold the Singapore statement because of their distaste for Trump’s legacy. If the US had finalized a policy that was distasteful to North Korea, the situation on the Korean Peninsula would have shifted from its current stalemate into an aggressive confrontation between North Korea and the US.

One peculiarity is that the US’s North Korea policy doesn’t contain even a perfunctory mention of inter-Korean relations. While the Biden administration hasn’t released its entire North Korea policy yet, it’s unfortunate that inter-Korean relations didn’t appear in this outline.

It’s hard to understand why the US wouldn’t at least have paid lip service to welcoming the development of inter-Korean relations, even if it didn’t make allowances for the special nature of inter-Korean relations. That’s particularly true since the South Korean government, in its deliberations with the US, has stressed the importance of inter-Korean relations in the peace process that’s designed to bring about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

On May 21, South Korea and the US will hold their first summit since Biden’s inauguration as president. North Korea will no doubt be watching to see what message is communicated in that summit.

At the least, I’d like to hear Biden express his support for inter-Korean relations at the summit. That’s needed to create space for the South Korean government to mediate between North Korea and the US. I’d like an acknowledgment that the development of inter-Korean relations contributes to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula either in Biden’s remarks or a joint statement.

The most disappointing aspect of denuclearization negotiations during the Trump administration was the US’s lack of strategic consideration for inter-Korean relations. The US failed to recognize the unique nature of inter-Korean relations and repeatedly blocked inter-Korean exchange and cooperation as being a violation of sanctions on North Korea during meetings of the South Korea-US working group.

If the Biden administration respects its allies, as it claims, it needs to show some consideration for South Korea, a key allied country. And if the US goes a step further by offering a positive assessment of the three inter-Korean summits attended by Kim Jong-un, it would help create momentum for restarting the Korean Peninsula peace process.

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

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