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Minister of Unification

The Minister of Unification told the US on Dec. 10 that pressure on North Korea should be combined with dialogue and cooperation.

Ryoo Kihl-jae’s message to Washington, which came during a visit to the US this week, has many watching for signs of change in Seoul’s policies on North Korea, especially after a senior official declared plans recently to hold comprehensive talks with Pyongyang to revolve the divided family issue - and possibly lift the so-called May 24 Measures that have barred inter-Korean trade and exchange in the wake of the 2010 sinking of the ROKS Cheonan warship.

“To date, South Korea and the US have focused on coordinating to pressure North Korea into change,” Ryoo noted in his Dec. 10 talk before the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank

“But we also need dialogue and cooperation to boost the effectiveness of our pressure on North Korea,” he added.

Ryoo delivered his remarks while expanding on the division of roles between South Korea and the US after an explanation of the Park Geun-hye administration’s North Korea policy. Many read them as an indirect criticism of the pressure-based approach of “strategic patience” - the Barack Obama administration’s policy of waiting for Pyongyang to change - and as a call for dialogue.

Ryoo went on to say Seoul and Washington “cannot afford to neglect coordination in terms of involvement on North Korea.”

“We need to clearly show what Pyongyang stands to gain from choosing dialogue and cooperation over provocation and isolation,” he explained.

Ryoo also said it was “important for the North Korean regime to have a sense of what cooperation with South Korea and the rest of the international community could bring.”

“I am confident that if the roles of South Korea and the US are divided along these lines, we can achieve a lot of what we desire,” he continued.

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

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