hankyoreh

Early Wednesday morning, North Korea launched a number of missiles over the East Sea. Among them was a long-range missile said to have the ability to reach the mainland United States. South Korea and other nations that had participated in the six-party talks began to warn the North against firing any missiles the moment preparations to do so were observed, but these warnings were ignored. This is most regrettable.

North Korea has made a clear error in judgment if it sought to use the launching of missiles as a tool for winning concessions or a resolution from the U.S. The missile threat narrows the range of choices available to the Bush administration. It was unrealistic to expect the administration would be swayed by the firing of a long-range missile. Choosing America’s Independence Day as its launch date made U.S. public opinion even less favorable and will not create the effect Pyongyang desires.

Issuing threats to attract attention is a typical brinkmanship tactic, used by North Korea on many a previous occasion. The goal of the tactic is to scare one’s opponent and change his attitude. However, the U.S. and Japan are not scared right now; instead, they are trying to use the threat to their own political and military advantage. That is why firing missiles is inevitably going to have the opposite effect.

Instead, dealt a blow were China, South Korea, and the effort to restart the six-party talks. Just the other day, China proposed to the nations concerned that they hold an unofficial six-party dialogue in Shenyang, China. South Korea has tried to work with the other nations involved in order to have substantial U.S.-North Korean discussion within a flexible six-party framework. These missile firings are also going to have a negative influence on what were growing calls within the U.S. for direct dialogue with Pyongyang.

Pyongyang is not part of the Missile Technology Control Regime and thus may want to claim developing missiles its sovereign right. But it has no right to make its neighbors nervous by firing a missile over the open sea without prior warning. All the more so because it declared early last year that it possesses nuclear weapons.

Immediately after the missile firing, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations Han Song-ryol said, "We diplomats do not know what the military is doing." If true, it shows you how self-centered the North Korean military is in its thinking. If Pyongyang wants to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the nuclear and missile issues, it needs to have its military abandon such thinking. Firing those missiles makes one doubt whether it really wants the six-party talks to resume.

The South Korean government is right to be criticizing the North for its actions. However, holding it responsible for the missile firings and preventing the situation from growing even worse are two different things. Everyday economic cooperation and inter-Korean dialogue must not be halted so easily. As it is South Korea that suffers the most from any crisis on the peninsula, we need to manage the situation in a composed manner, with a view of the long term.

It is not good for the U.S. and Japan to immediately be moving to enact sanctions and other forms of pressure. The North has committed an error of judgment, but its actions do not substantially threaten these countries. White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said the firings are a "provocation," but not an immediate threat. A collision of hard-line approaches could lead to a ruinous situation of help to no one. If the nations participating in the six-party talks want to help North Korea make realistic decisions, they need to first be realistic themselves.