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By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter, Park Hyun, Washington correspondent and Gil Yun-hyung, Tokyo correspondent

Washington appears to be attempting to reach out to Pyongyang over the humanitarian issue of securing the release of US nationals being detained in North Korea.

The question on many analysts’ minds now is whether dialogue over the detainees’ release will pave the way to future negotiations, or degenerate into a standoff after another battle of nerves.

The US government is certainly working to find a diplomatic solution to the detentions of US citizens Kenneth Bae, Matthew Todd Miller, and Jeffrey Edward Fowle. A meeting in Washington on Sept. 9 between the US and South Korea‘s senior representatives to the six-party talks on the nuclear issue was seen as a sign of the US’s interest in securing releases for the three men.

After the meeting, South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook told reporters the representatives had “urged North Korea to take forward-thinking action on humanitarian issues, including the reunions of divided South and North Korean families and the release of US detainees within North Korea.” The focus on these issues by the senior representatives could be an attempt to send the message that a favorable climate for improved relations with Pyongyang could take shape, depending on how it responds.

But the decision to lump together the divided family reunions and detainee issues as “humanitarian concerns” could be Seoul’s attempt to clear the way for a passive role on the sidelines while the US works independently for the three detainees’ releases.

Before that, speaking at a Washington think tank on Sept. 4, newly appointed six-party talks special envoy Sydney Seiler called the detainee issue a “significant obstacle” to relations with Pyongyang.

Seiler also said diplomatic efforts were being made through the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang and through the so-called “New York channel” of the North Korean United Nations mission.

The specific mention of the detainee issue as a humanitarian concern by Seiler, who took over North Korea duties at the State Department this month, was widely seen as unusual - giving the impression that Washington was tying together the nuclear issue and humanitarian concerns, two areas traditionally kept separate.

Public anger over the detentions is already turning into an issue Washington can’t ignore. Recently, two US reporters who had gone missing in the Middle East were brutally executed two weeks apart by the Islamic State (IS), an armed group of Sunni extremists. Since then, the public has been on the alert for risks to other US citizens overseas. From the Barack Obama administration’s standpoint, anger over the country’s foreign policy situation is an issue that has to be resolved before the upcoming midterm elections in November.

Seoul, for its part, seems to be offering its own side support, convinced that a thaw in relations between Washington and Pyongyang could open up more space for South Korea to build its ties with the North.

“The more attention the US pays, the more it may mean the time has come from North Korea’s standpoint to release the detainees,” a senior South Korean diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

“If there is a release, the public opinion in the US may contrast with what we saw with the IS killings, and North Korea could end up looking like a country that respects human rights more than groups like IS do,” the source added.

But it could be too soon to make rosy predictions for North Korea-US ties when the situation hasn’t yet gotten off the ground. To begin with, the two sides have very different aims. Pyongyang has made it clear it plans to demand an unconditional resumption of the six-party talks in exchange for the detainees’ releases; Washington remains adamant on the nuclear issue.

“I don’t know that North Korea is all that confident it can change the US’s attitude with humanitarian issues,” said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.

“It’s questionable how much progress we can expect,” Chang added, suggesting Pyongyang may be less than fully committed to negotiations because it sees itself as having time on its side.

Along the same times, some analysts are saying Workers’ Party of (North) Korea secretary for international affairs Kang Seok-ju’s trip to Europe this week, in addition to diversifying Pyongyang’s foreign relations, may also be an attempt to shed the country’s diplomatic focus on relations with Washington and Seoul. Kang departed on Sept. 6 for the trip, which is taking him to four countries, including Germany and Belgium.

Indeed, for all the importance North Korea has placed domestically and internationally on improving ties with the South, it has yet to reply officially to Seoul’s Aug. 11 proposal for a second round of senior-level talks.

But the complex international situation Washington is facing now could get in the way of attempts to reach out to Pyongyang.

“If the Obama administration finds itself getting into another Iraq War and anti-terrorism discourse starts making a comeback, there’s no guarantee we won’t find ourselves with something out of the George W. Bush era, where they were calling North Korea part of the ‘Axis of Evil,’” said Chung-Ang University international relations professor Lee Hye-jeong.

Meanwhile, a Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) is kicking off on Sept. 11 in Seoul, with deputy foreign ministers from South Korea, China, and Japan coming together in a roundabout search for solutions to the countries’ diplomatic frictions. Held yearly since 2007, the SOM serves as a forum for working-level preparations for an eventual trilateral summit.

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