No mention of North Korea in Obama’s State of the Union address

Posted on : 2015-01-22 20:51 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
US president’s reference to hackers could be implicit criticism of Pyongyang as responsible for Sony hack
 as Vice President Joseph Biden (left) applauds
as Vice President Joseph Biden (left) applauds

In his state of the union address on Jan. 20, US President Barack Obama did not specifically refer to North Korea, prompting the analysis that there were various motivations for this omission. It can be assumed that Obama hopes to keep sanctions in place without provoking North Korea, while also keeping in mind developments that could lead to dialogue with Pyongyang in the future.

“No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids,” Obama said during the speech.

While this appears to be criticism of North Korea, which has been pointed to as responsible for a hack on Sony Pictures, Obama did not directly mention North Korea.

And rather than bashing North Korea, the comment appears to have been intended to emphasize the necessity of cyber security, which Obama has touted as a key goal of his government in the latter half of his second term in office.

On Jan. 12 and 13, Obama announced countermeasures for cybercrime and introduced a bill for cyber security.

South Korean government officials are also putting a generally positive spin on Obama‘s decision not to mention North Korea in the address. Before the address, the opinion of members of Congress - not to mention the public - had turned against North Korea after Sony was hacked.

“The Obama administration seems to want to avoid putting undue pressure or sanctions on North Korea. This appears to be an attempt to move toward dialogue without giving Pyongyang an excuse to make a counterattack,” a senior South Korean government official said.

Nevertheless, it is regrettable that Obama did not make a stronger overture for dialogue with North Korea during the address. This stands in sharp contrast to the clear messages of reconciliation that he made to Cuba and Iran.

“In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you’re doing doesn’t work for fifty years, it’s time to try something new,” Obama said, striking back at the Republican Party, which is opposed to the US normalizing its diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Obama also noted that Iran has halted its nuclear program and reduced its stores of nuclear materials, hailing this as the fruit of nuclear talks between the US and Iran.

Some analysts point out that, since Obama‘s address concentrated on defending his foreign policy and security initiatives, which have been lambasted as a “catastrophe,” it would have been awkward to bring up North Korea, given the lack of diplomatic progress there.

But Obama’s decision not to mention North Korea is provoking concerns that the issues of North Korea and the Korean peninsula have been pushed to the end of Obama’s legacy-building agenda.

Obama did not mention North Korea during the previous state of the union address in Jan. 2014, during a speech at West Point in May 2014 when he outlined a new foreign policy doctrine, or during a keynote address before the UN General Assembly in Sep. 2014.

 

By Yi Yong-in, staff reporter and Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

 

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

 

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