hankyoreh

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

President Park Geun-hye's "trust-building process" for the Korean Peninsula is failing to connect with North Korea.

Much of the failure is due to the thorny political situation caused by North Korea's third nuclear test and closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, but Park's impatient approach with Pyongyang might be making the problem worse.

During a May 15 meeting at the Blue House with the heads of political bureaus at various news outlets, Park made a number of statements that were critical of North Korea.

"Have we ever succeeded by making a historic offer to North Korea?" she asked at one point.

She also said the leaders in Pyongyang needed to "behave like gentlemen" on the recovery of finished products and raw materials from companies at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, adding that it was "not right for a responsible government to normalize [the complex's operations] on poor terms."

The remarks showed Park’s frustration and disappointment with being unable to reach a breakthrough as the complex's shutdown passes its fortieth day.

But some experts said situations like the present one are precisely the ones that demand a long view from the President. In particular, they said it was unhelpful - and could backfire - for Park to respond immediately and emotionally to each and every action from Pyongyang.

The Park administration has made three offers so far to talk with North Korea about the complex. Two of them came during the Foal Eagle combined military exercises with the US, which are a very sensitive issue for Pyongyang, while the third gave only one day's notice, making a positive response from North Korea unlikely.

Now some critics are questioning whether Park is really interested in improving inter-Korean relations at all.

"I think she thinks that it's time to 'fix' North Korea's behavior," said Sejong Institute researcher Paik Hak-soon. "But if inter-Korean relations are going to get better, she needs to communicate with North Korea and develop a broader understanding."

"At this point, people are beginning to wonder how much President Park really wants to improve inter-Korean relations," Paik added.

Meanwhile, North Korea broke with its previous approach of avoiding any direct criticism of Park when the Korean Central News Agency published an editorial on May 15 blasting her North Korea policy as "the same old approach of dividing the Korean nation."

Some observers said Park needs a more proactive stance, rather than simply waiting from changes from Pyongyang.

"When Park Chung-hee [Park Geun-hye's father and South Korea's president from 1961 to 1979] succeeded in bringing about the Joint Communique [of July 4, 1972], it was based on South Korea's active need, not a change in stance from North Korea," noted Kim Yeon-chul, a professor at Inje University.

"If [Park] is just waiting for North Korea to change, then her North Korea policy is no different from Lee Myung-bak's," he added.

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