S. Korean foreign minister calls on president-elect to stay the course in resolving N. Korean nuclear issue

Posted on : 2008-02-21 12:00 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Song Min-soon advises perseverance and diplomacy, and maintaining a balance of interests between nations

“Resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula are simultaneously two wheels and two sides of the same coin. Like it or not, we have to move towards peace and overcoming the division (of the peninsula). Think of the nuclear issue like running; instead of being on a 100-meter track, it is more like being in a long-distance competition on roads. The approach needs to befit this. (South) Korea needs to lead with a clear sense of ownership and a clear mindset if the issue is going to be resolved.”

So said South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on February 20 during what will probably be his last press conference as a member of the Cabinet.

Song said President-elect Lee Myung-bak should not change the course South Korea has taken in trying to resolve the issue of North Korea’s nuclear programs.

“The direction being taken in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, and the map for implementing that plan, is something that has been agreed to by the nations concerned,” he said, emphasizing that the six-party process that includes the September 19 Joint Statement, the February 13 Agreement, and the October 3 Agreement should not be altered. “I do not think the situation is one for which a new approach would be advisable.”

He called for both continuity and the supplementary improvement of foreign policy.

“One of the characteristics of diplomacy is that, more so than in other areas of government, it is something in which you organize the human experience, and the records involved, and have that carried on by the next generation.”

Song has spent 33 years in the Foreign Ministry, having passed the state foreign service examination in 1975, and the press conference was seen as the closing moment of his career. In a moment of reflection he said that “overcoming the division” of the peninsula was one of the unique missions of Korean diplomats.

“We need to build our internal capacity and improve international conditions if we are going to overcome the division,” he said. “One of the obligations of Korean diplomacy is to make neighboring nations rationally understand why a reunified Korea would be advantageous for all countries.

“U.S.-Korean relations and inter-Korean relations both have to develop in a healthy way for this to be possible.”

Asked if there has been anything he wished would have been different about negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear programs, Song said that the nuclear issue would be easier “if North and South could talk directly, about not only things nuclear but also about political and military issues.”

“It is too much to think the six-party talks alone can resolve the (nuclear) issue,” he said.

When asked about his counterparts in the six-party process, Song said only that the “unchanging law of relations between nations is the balance of interests.”

One of Song’s nicknames is said to be “Colonel Song,” reportedly given to him by the Americans he has worked with, in the course of diplomatic negotiations, for his refusal to yield on South Korea’s interests.

“I consider it a honor to have been the chief negotiator at the six-party talks, the senior secretary for security and foreign affairs at the Blue House, and the foreign minister,” Song said in closing, adding that immediately after stepping down he intends to “relax aimlessly for a while.”



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