hankyoreh

Confirmation has been indefinitely postponed for former U.S. North Korea Policy Coordinator Wendy Sherman, who was nominated early last month as U.S. State Department undersecretary for political affairs. Confirmation hearings also have yet to take place in the Senate due to objections from conservative members of the Republican Party. Republicans have also prevented Sung Kim, the first ethnic Korean to be nominated as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, from starting his service in Seoul, withholding confirmation despite the high marks he received during his confirmation hearing.
The Republican Party’s decision to withhold confirmation certainly appears to be strategic pressure aimed at blocking the Obama administration’s recent attempts at a new approach to North Korea. There is a good chance this will have a significant negative impact on improvements in North Korea-U.S. relations and the six-party talks, as well as the prospects for improved inter-Korean relations. Sherman is a key figure who played a leading role in a shift in North Korea-U.S. policy and rapid improvements in Washington-Pyongyang relations while serving as aide to then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and North Korea policy coordinator during the later part of the Clinton administration.
Right after Sherman was named for the undersecretary for political affairs post, the Republican Party began raising questions about her suitability, digging through her prior history working with the Clinton administration, business, and Oxfam America. It was reported, however, that her background contains nothing that would present a problem. What the Republican Party most takes issue with is said to be the very fact that she worked under Albright. This likely stems from an aversion to the potential for a dramatic shift in North Korea policy and improvements in Pyongyang-Washington relations if she takes office as scheduled overseeing affairs related to the State Department’s various regional bureaus in the post of undersecretary for political affairs.
In October 2000, North Korea and the U.S. reached the stage just prior to diplomatic relations, with Albright and Vice Marshal Cho Myong-rok respectively visiting Pyongyang and Washington and discussing the possibility of a Pyongyang visit by Clinton. This failed to pan out, however, when the Democratic Party lost that year in the presidential election against the Republican Party and George W. Bush.
With its extremely narrow-minded approach to recent discussions toward raising the U.S. national debt ceiling, the Republican Party drew charges that it contributed to the lowering of the country’s credit rating and the plummeting of stock values around the world. It has also demonstrated a far-right bias in North Korea policy, repudiating even food aid while opposing any attempts at Pyongyang-Washington contacts. Unfortunately, in contrast with 2000, North Korea’s view of the current administration in Seoul is not much different from it.
This is not to say that the Republican Party appears to have any alternative to offer. After eliminating dramatic reconciliation and cooperation achievements between North Korea and the United States and between North Korea and South Korea in 2000 without offering any measures to replace them, the Republic Party seems to be trying once again to douse signs of improvements in relations between Pyongyang and Washington and between Seoul and Pyongyang. We urge the United States to refrain from continuing to make political use of the tragedy of the Korean Peninsula’s division, a situation for which it bears major responsibility.
　　　
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