hankyoreh

May 7. Yun stressed international sanctions as a way of punishing North Korea if it goes ahead with a fourth nuclear test. (provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, who is currently visiting the US, sent an extremely hard-line message to North Korea for the third day in a row. Seoul, which has an important role to play in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, could be only making empty warnings unlikely to bring any practical effect, while not offering a solution.

During a debate about weapons of mass destruction hosted by the United Nations Security Council at the UN Headquarters in New York on May 7, Yun criticized North Korea as the only country that has tested nuclear weapons in the 21st century. “If North Korea were to go ahead with another nuclear test in defiance of the collective will of the international community, it will have to pay the heaviest price that it has never seen in the past,” Yun warned.

During a lecture at the International Peace Institute (IPI) on May 6, Yun said that North Korea will pay “the highest price” and experience something it has never experienced before if it conducts a nuclear test. “The additional sanctions, that North Korea calls ‘hat of sanctions’, and so opposes, should not only muster the full weight of 45 UN sanctions, but will also trigger a wide range of individual sanctions. These actions will be an ‘iron hat’ of unbearable weight,” Yun said.

One day earlier, on May 5, Yun met with Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union, and said, “If North Korea carries out a fresh nuclear test or fires midrange missiles, the international community should slap strong sanctions on Pyongyang, enough to put the kibosh on the issue.” Yun also called on the European Union to work with South Korea on this. Yun has been in the US since May 3 since this is South Korea’s turn to chair the UN Security Council. Each month, a different member country chairs the Security Council.

Though Yun’s warnings are strident, experts point out that the foreign minister is effectively acknowledging that he has no plan to offer.

“Threats are an approach that has been used for the past twenty years,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies. “It would be more appropriate for the country chairing the UN Security Council to accompany this pressure with a way to avoid that threat, such as dialogue.” Yang suggested that simply demanding that North Korea not carry out the nuclear tests implies that South Korea has no strategy or tactics.

Observers are also criticizing South Korea for talking to other countries about sanctions while ignoring the importance of its role as mediator.

“While I approve the idea of telling the North that it must not carry out a fourth nuclear test, I am skeptical about whether this kind of indirect megaphone diplomacy, relying on sanctions, is enough to resolve the North Korean issue and to improve inter-Korean relations,” said Yonsei University professor Moon Chung-in.

Yun’s emphasis on sanctions appears to be aimed at putting pressure on China, a kind of preliminary groundwork with the international community to force China to agree to sanctions against North Korea if Pyongyang tests a nuclear weapon.

But experts explain that there are practical limits on the available kinds of sanctions. “Additional sanctions would mean a secondary boycott,” said Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies Seoul National University, referring to sanctions imposed not only on North Korea but also on countries that trade with the North. “This might be aimed at China, which is basically the only country that trades with North Korea. How effective is that going to be?”

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