Donald Gregg says it’s time to enter dialogue with North Korea

Posted on : 2013-02-05 16:01 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Former US ambassador to Seoul says Kim Jong-un is someone the South should be able to talk with
 former US ambassador to South Korea
former US ambassador to South Korea

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

A former US ambassador to South Korea suggested Seoul and Washington should not overreact to signs of a possible third nuclear test from North Korea.

Speaking in a telephone interview on Feb. 3, Donald Gregg, 85, said, “The top priority for the two countries was to remain cool-headed and begin dialogue with Pyongyang.”

In particular, Gregg said that current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is someone they would be able to have dialogue with.

As a reason for his judgment, he noted, “Kim was educated in Europe, dismissed hard-line generals from the North Korean military, and has prioritized economic development.”

Speaking from his own experience, Gregg said, “I feel similarly about Kim as I and then-President George H. W. Bush did in the 1980s about Mikhail Gorbachev when he became leader of the Soviet Union. In both cases there was a sense that the leader was someone with whom dialogue would be possible.” At the time, Gregg was working as Bush’s security aide.

Gregg also said, “Kim is apparently showing his intent to develop his country’s nuclear capabilities not as a threat, but as a deterrent. The country’s nuclear program has destabilized the region and prompted Japan to consider developing its own nuclear program, which highlights the need for dialogue.”

When asked for his assessment of the situation, Gregg said the UN’s decision to place expanded sanctions on North Korea just before Park Geun-hye took office as South Korean president and John Kerry as US secretary of state put a barrier to either of them initiating dialogue with Pyongyang. In short, he said, the sanctions were very poorly timed.

Gregg emphasized, “The sanctions were a very foolish reaction to the North Korean rocket launch and should never have been imposed, given the knowledge that the South Korean government was behind them.”

He also stressed the need for continued contact and communication between Seoul and Washington, noting the increasing importance of dialogue over time.

The former ambassador pointed to the fact that Park visited North Korea in 2002 despite the unfortunate history between North Korea and her parents, former president Park Geun-hye and first lady Yuk Young-soo.

Gregg said, “I hope president-elect would be able to form a good relationship with Kim through dialogue.”

He went on to describe Kerry as a very discreet person who showed a great deal of interest in improving relations with the Kim regime when the two met North Korean representatives in New York last March. Gregg said Kerry and the delegates had a very productive dialogue at the time, discussing the importance of resuming communication between Pyongyang and Washington, but added that North Korea prevented relations from improving when it launched its satellite. Foreign minister Ri Yong-ho was a member of the North Korean delegation at those talks.

Gregg also recalled writing a letter to US vice president Joseph Biden in 2009, before Kim took power, to encourage the future successor to father Kim Jong-il to visit the US. By way of explanation, the former ambassador said, “I had long been paying attention to Kim Jong-un and wanted to give him the opportunity to get to know the US.”

He added that the plans came to naught after facing criticism from Republicans and others.

Gregg headed the South Korean division of the Central Intelligence Agency between 1973 and 1976 and was US ambassador to South Korea from 1989 to 1999. He went on to serve as chairman of the Korea Society until 2009. A onetime member of the White House National Security Council in 1980, he is considered a leading expert on Korean issues.

 

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