By Kang Seung-woo
South Korea expressed concern Friday over Japan's deal to relax sanctions against North Korea amid worries that the move could derail efforts to denuclearize the North.
While inter-Korean relations and denuclearization of North Korea remain stalled, rapid progress in ties between Pyongyang and Tokyo may limit Seoul's policy toward the North. Seoul’s dilemma has grown since President Park Geun-hye's “trustpolitik” has had little results and her Dresden proposal provoked a backlash from the North.
"We understand the importance of the abduction issue in Japan's diplomacy,” a senior South Korean diplomat said. “But now is an important time for South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia to cooperate for North Korea to be denuclearized and prevented from advancing its nuclear capability."
Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Eui-do told a briefing: "We do not know how inter-Korean relations will unfold and we are watching closely."
The government is also worried that Pyongyang will exploit the deal with Japan in the North’s bid to get out of international isolation. This is because the North is likely to refuse to denuclearize, stick to military threats and neglect to improve ties with the South.
The “trustpolitik” initiative was designed to build trust to ensure lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. The proposal, made in the former East German city of Dresden in March, is about expanding humanitarian assistance and family reunions, sharing resources and infrastructure projects, and joint culture and education programs in efforts toward reunification.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Thursday that Pyongyang and Tokyo had agreed to a full investigation into the abduction of Japanese citizens. In return, Tokyo will lift sanctions against the North.
However, the U.S. government showed little reaction to the agreement.
"We were alerted that they are planning to engage in these discussions, or the discussion was offered," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
"We continue to support Japanese efforts to resolve the abductions issue in a transparent manner."
Meanwhile, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday approved a bill for tougher sanctions against North Korea and holding it accountable for money-laundering and human rights violations.
The North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act reinforces existing sanctions against by prohibiting access to critical resources such as hard currency and other goods.
"It is time for Congress to lead by providing a clear legislative framework for sanctions to deprive Kim Jong-un of his ability to build nuclear weapons and to repress and abuse the North Korean people," said committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce.
He said the act "seeks to apply the same type of pressure the Treasury Department successfully applied in 2005, when it targeted a small bank in Macao that was complicit in Pyongyang's counterfeiting."