By Kim Young-jin
The United States should maintain some form of bilateral communication with North Korea to prevent any misunderstandings at a time of high tension over Pyongyang’s recent provocative behavior, but not rush into negotiations with the recalcitrant state, a noted U.S. expert said Thursday.
“There is widespread support (in Washington) for the fact that we need to have a dialogue channel with North Korea,” Gordon Flake, executive director of the Mansfield Foundation, told The Korea Times on the sidelines of a security forum in Seoul. “The primary objective would be to understand North Korea’s position and make sure they understand, in an unfiltered manner, our position.”
Inter-Korean tensions have boiled to their highest point in decades in the wake of the North’s Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island that killed four. The incident was preceded by Pyongyang’s disclosure of a modern uranium enrichment program that officials fear could be converted to produce nuclear weapons.
Regional players have fallen into camps over the situation. China and Russia have called for a resumption of some form of the six-party framework on the North’s denuclearization, a proposal agreeable to the North, according to Beijing.
The United States, South Korea and Japan have balked at the prospect, apparently unwilling to reward the North’s provocations, while boosting their deterrence capabilities and calling on the Beijing to use its leverage over Pyongyang to convince it to curb its provocative behavior instead.
Flake stressed that opening a channel of communication would not be akin to returning to negotiations with the North and that the timing and conditions would have to be conducive to doing so.
“That channel is dependent on some indication from North Korea that they’re willing and interested in talking, said Flake, who has travelled to the North on several occasions.“You don’t send a dialogue channel to someone who’s just slapped you.
“You also don’t want to be insensitive to South Korea, and the loss it has suffered, in an effort to force a dialogue when the North Koreans aren’t ready for it at this point,” he added.
The scholar did not elaborate on possible scenarios for such dialogue or who it may involve, but noted that Washington has special envoy to North Korea Stephen Bosworth for such tasks.
The remarks came as some have criticized the Obama administration’s “strategic patience” policy that entails waiting for Pyongyang, under international sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests, to come forward, rather than trying to lure it back to negotiations with incentives. Critics say that the longer Washington waits, the more time it gives the North to bolster its nuclear stockpile and commit further provocations.
But Flake backed the administration’s handling of the provocations. “The administration’s priority has correctly focused on shoring up alliance relationships and coordinating carefully to enhance our deterrence posture” and urging China to take a more productive role, he said.
Still, the scholar noted that the allies are in a quandary as their options to deal with the North are diminishing with time.
“The limitation is on our willingness to risk escalation. They have much higher tolerance for risk and pain than we do and we have much more to lose. That’s the fundamental challenge,” he said.