hankyoreh

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

Victor Cha, a professor of political studies at Georgetown University and an American expert on affairs on the Korean peninsula, believes that the situation at the Kaesong Industrial Complex may be an opportunity to create a turning point in South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s North Korea policy.

Cha, the former director for Asian affairs in the White House's National Security Council, took part in a seminar organized by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), organized to mark Park’s upcoming visit to the US. On May 2, Cha said, “If Park manages to get even one promise from North Korea about Kaesong, whatever that promise may be, she will get some room to move politically.”

“It may sound like a cliche, but every crisis is an opportunity. At the moment, all eyes in Korea are focused on the Kaesong Complex. North Korea doesn’t have to yield. As long as it just shows some sign that could be interpreted as anything other than the North Korean-style of blatant intimidation, the door could open for talks. Even if North Korea makes a casual reference suggesting talks about Kaesong, it could be a good opportunity for the Park administration,” Cha said.

At the seminar, Cha was asked whether it could be possible to engage in talks with North Korea as long as the US refuses to recognize North Korea as a nuclear power. “From the perspective of the US, there is not much that can be done at the moment,” Cha responded. “That is why the Obama administration has stuck with the policy of ‘strategic patience’ for the past five years.”

Cha said that “diplomatic patience” is a euphemism for having no idea what needs to be done. “That’s why the US will listen carefully to any North Korean policies that Park proposes during her upcoming visit to the US,” Cha said.

Cha said that the US will not oppose the reopening of talks between North and South. He also predicted that, if talks resume, they could become a stepping stone to talks between North Korea and the US and the six-party talks.

“The only way that the US will return to talks with North Korea is if inter-Korean talks take place first,” Cha said. “This is because the US does not want to be placed in a situation where it is negotiating with North Korea while Pyongyang is ignoring South Korea.”

However, Cha noted that inter-Korean talks by themselves would not be enough to end North Korea’s provocative behavior. “Talks between the North and South will lead the way to a negotiations on a wider scale,” he added.

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