[Editorial] With working group on its way out, S. Korea and US should create new deliberative body for N. Korea policy

Posted on : 2021-06-23 16:45 KST Modified on : 2021-06-23 16:45 KST
The time has come for South Korea and the US to find creative ways to resume dialogue with North Korea and to move toward peace and denuclearization
Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, pose for a photo before their meeting on Monday. (Yonhap News)
Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, pose for a photo before their meeting on Monday. (Yonhap News)


South Korea and the US will probably be terminating a working group that began to coordinate North Korea policy, which critics say has turned into an obstacle to improving inter-Korean relations.

Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, agreed to consider terminating the two countries' working group during a meeting on Monday.

South Korea and the US established the working group in November 2018 to strengthen bilateral communication and cooperation on implementing sanctions on North Korea, achieve the Korean Peninsula's complete denuclearization, and establish permanent peace there.

The working group's ostensible purpose was to smoothly handle issues about sanctions on North Korea in a single deliberative body, without requiring various US government bodies to discuss every issue that came up. But in reality, the US used the working group to obstruct inter-Korean relations on the pretext of complying with UN sanctions.

Some of the best-known examples of this were preventing South Korean reporters from taking laptop computers to an inter-Korean event at Mt. Kumgang; canceling a program that was supposed to provide North Korea with Tamiflu, an antiviral treatment for influenza; and blocking South Korean businesspeople from visiting the Kaesong Industrial Complex to check on their property there.

There was widespread criticism in South Korea that the US was applying needlessly strict standards to control inter-Korean relations, which also provoked sharp pushback from North Korea. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, even said the working group was a "snare set by pro-American toadies."

Given these considerations, it's encouraging that South Korea and the US have decided to scrap their working group and set up a new framework for dialogue. It helps realize US President Joe Biden's expression of "support for inter-Korean dialogue, engagement, and cooperation" in his summit with the South Korean leader last month, and it could also be taken as a signal urging North Korea to return to dialogue.

North Korea and the US are currently locked in a staring match about resuming dialogue.

On June 17, Kim Jong-un talked about being "prepared for both dialogue and confrontation," which White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan described as an "interesting signal."

But Kim Yo-jong, in her position as vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, released a statement on Tuesday in which she warned that the US' false expectations could "plunge them into greater disappointment."

Kim Yo-Jong also quoted a Korean proverb that says, "In a dream, what counts most is to read it, not to have it."

North Korea and the US are currently in a tug-of-war, with both sides demanding that the other make the first move.

At such a crucial moment, South Korea and the US need to create a new framework for brainstorming various ways to lead North Korea into dialogue, thus creating a virtuous cycle in North Korea-US relations and inter-Korean relations.

During his meeting with Sung Kim on Tuesday, South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young proposed that South Korea and the US work together to organize reunions for divided Korean families at the Mt. Kumgang resort. Lee's idea merits serious consideration.

The time has come for South Korea and the US to find creative ways to resume dialogue with North Korea and to move toward peace and denuclearization.

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

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