hankyoreh

Nov. 19.

Experts are saying that U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to choose Seoul as the setting for his announcement on the schedule for Stephen Bosworth’s, U.S. special representative for North Korea Policy, trip to North Korea has symbolic meaning in itself. In addition, Obama appears to have shied away from making any statements that might provoke North Korea out of consideration for the upcoming bilateral dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea scheduled for Dec. 8.

Experts had actually already predicted Bosworth’s North Korea visit would be held early next month. The U.S. State Department formally announced the visit on Nov. 10, just before Obama’s Asia tour, and gave the date as sometime “within this year.” Informally, however, the State Department announced that it would be some time around early December, after the last week of November and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

　Yet, a certain significance can be attributed to the decision to announce the schedule of Bosworth’s visit to North Korea during the South Korea-U.S. summit. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, says, “It shows President Obama’s intention of having a direct dialogue with North Korea.”

Another foreign policy expert interprets it as a “message to North Korea,” a declaration of readiness to engage in dialogue with the country. In essence, it follows along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s formal announcement of the appointment of Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, as special representative for North Korean policy, which she made during her visit to South Korea in February. An official with the South Korean government explained, “It shows that South Korea and the U.S. are cooperating well on the North Korea nuclear issue.”

　Obama also limited remarks about North Korea at the summit to a reiteration of his existing policy line on North Korea. Obama said Thursday, “If North Korea is prepared to take concrete and irreversible steps to fulfill its obligations and eliminate its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. will support economic assistance and help promote its full integration into the community of nations.” Previously, following his Tuesday summit meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Obama said that North Korea was at a crossroads of choosing between “the path of confrontation and provocation” and “becoming a full member of the international community.” He also said at that meeting that North Korea would fail to prosper and find itself isolated if it continued engaging in confrontation and provocation. The basic gist of the statements then and now is similar, but observers are noting that Obama appears to have avoided using provocative expressions such as and “confrontation” and “isolation” in this announcement.

　It is difficult, however, to predict the outcome of Bosworth’s North Korea visit. At a press conference Thursday, Obama described the character of the upcoming North Korea-U.S. meeting as “talks.” Observers are interpreting this as meaning an attempt will be made to assess each other’s intentions rather than meaning negotiations will take place. In contrast, North Korea wants to sit down with the U.S. and draw it into substantive negotiations.

　Regarding what could possibly be brought up at the negotiations table, North Korea has repeatedly indicated that it will be placing priority on discussing “the issue of turning the hostile North Korea-U.S. relationship into a peaceful relationship.” This means it is more interested in normalizing North Korea-U.S. relations and security issues such as a peace system. In contrast, the U.S. is focused on urging North Korea to quickly return to the six-party talks and reaffirming its intent to abide by the joint statement of Sept. 19, 2005. However, analysts are saying that in order to persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks and denuclearize, the U.S. will have no choice but to reveal what will be given in return. Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said, “The contents of the package Bosworth carries with him to North Korea is important.”

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