hankyoreh

2009

With the situation on the Korean Peninsula approaching a state of hair-trigger tension, United States Special Representative for North Korea Policy Stephen Bosworth is traveling to South Korea on Saturday, by way of China and Japan, together with Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy to the six-party talks. Bosworth’s East Asian tour is particularly notable not only for being an important starting point in the Obama administration’s reexamination of North Korea policy but also for coming at a time when North Korea is announcing a satellite launch amid sharp tensions between the two Koreas.

During his visits to China and Japan, he indicated that a launch would be strongly discouraged and seemed to suggest that discussion of sanctions at the United Nations level was inevitable if North Korea carries out a launch, but he avoided further specific references. For this reason, more attention is focusing on the message on North Korea that he will put forth in his South Korea visit.

Bosworth is to meet Monday for in-depth discussions on North Korea policy with high-ranking South Korean officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan, Minister of Unification Hyun In-taek, Presidential Secretary for Diplomacy and Security Kim Seong-hwan, and Wi Sung-lak, head of the Office of Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and chief South Korean delegate at the six-party talks.

A high-ranking government authority said Friday that “We will also be discussing plans for advancement in the six-party talks, including the nuclear issue, but the biggest priority issue is discussing the North Korean missile problem we are immediately faced with, the related measures to be taken before the launch, and the response in the event that a launch takes place.”

On the evening Bosworth’s arrival in South Korea on Saturday, he is expected to attend a reception being held by the Embassy of the United States in Seoul, where he will exchange views on a variety of issues with experts in South Korea’s foreign affairs and national security and with former government officials. Also of interest is whether he will be meeting with former President Kim Dae-jung and former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won, two leading proponents of a policy of toleration toward North Korea with whom Bosworth formed relationships during his period as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea from 1997 to 2001.

It was also relayed that he plans to meet this weekend in Seoul with Aleksei Borodavkin, Russia’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and chief delegate at the six-party talks.

The primary focus of attention in Bosworth’s East Asian tour will be discussion of measures to prevent North Korea from launching what it says is a satellite and respond to a launch if it takes place, but it appears that the weight will be shifted to fine-tuning a comprehensive approach to North Korea, including the United States’ response to actions by North Korea.

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