hankyoreh

Lim Sung-nam

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent, Jeong Nam-ku, Tokyo correspondent, Park Min-hee, Beijing correspondent and Park Byong-soo, staff reporter

chief South Korean negotiator for the six-party talks

As of Dec. 4, North Korea had assembled a two-stage rocket on the launch pad and is pushing forward with final preparations for a rocket launch. South Korea, the US and Japan are rushing to ready their response to the imminent launch.

The South Korean government dispatched Lim Sung-nam, the representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, to Washington on Dec. 4 to discuss cooperative measures. A task force for integrated risk control was also set up in the Ministry of National Defense, which consists of working-level staff from the ministry’s policy division and staff members in the field of operation and intelligence from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Lim is expected to stay in the US through Dec. 6 to discuss countermeasures with Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Glyn Davies, special representative of the Secretary of State for North Korea policy and officials from the National Security Council. Lim reportedly will also meet Robert Einhorn, the State Department’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control. Inside and outside of government circles, there is talk about issuing shipping sanctions or financial sanctions to deny North Korea financial transactions with banks that North Korean assets, as was the case of sanctions issued in 2006 which froze North Korean assets at the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) bank.

Japan dispatched, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau director-general Sugiyama Shinsuke to Washington. Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reported that Sugiyama is to sit with his South Korean and American counterparts to go over countermeasures to the North Korean rocket launch. The newspaper stated, “Representatives from South Korea, the US and Japan will meet to urge North Korea to halt the long-range missile launch while discussing their opinions on stepping up pressures on North Korea, including issuing new sanctions through the UN Security Council after the launch.” However, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Cho Tae-young said, “A three-way discussion between South Korea, the US and Japan has yet to be decided upon, but could happen at any time if deemed necessary.”

At a regular briefing on Dec. 3 (local time), US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said about the upcoming rocket launch, “Obviously, we view it as a provocative action, and we’re working with other members of the Six-Party process and consulting going forward.” When asked whether the US government was given prior notice on the launch plans from North Korea, he answered that the US government was notified prior to the North Korean announcement but would not get into any details on the specific time or content the warning.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Gary Samore, Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism at the White House National Security Council, stated at a forum in Washington that if the launch takes place, the US will take “appropriate actions.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese government issued a call for discretion from North Korea, which is being interpreted as a request that it halt the launch. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei stated at a regular briefing on Dec. 4 that China hoped North Korea would exercise discretion in consideration of the larger framework of the Korean Peninsula’s peace and stability.

When asked if China hopes that North Korea cancels the launch, he answered, “As a sovereign country, North Korea has the right to use space for peaceful purposes, but we express our stance for the reasons of the current state of the Korean Peninsula and the UN Security Council resolution.” Hong added that China and North Korea had exchanged opinions on the launch several times.

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