N. Korea remains beyond Park's reach

President Park Geun-hye

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye's sudden proposal for a trilateral summit with China and Japan is an apparent bid to restore Korea's frayed relations with the latter nation. This offer appears to have been designed to calm concerns over Korea's increasing diplomatic isolation amid the changing geopolitical landscape in Northeast Asia.

However, there has been no such "reconciliatory" mood in the troubled inter-Korean relations because President Park is sticking to a policy toward North Korea that mainly focuses on exerting pressure on the North, further pushing bilateral relations toward confrontational mode.

Analysts are advising the Park government to seek ways of being assertive about Pyongyang rather than just adopting a strong stance that may create an opportunity to use as leverage with the reclusive state.

"The Park administration has nearly finished its second year, but unlike expectations, there have been no achievements in efforts to restore the soured relations with the North. While the North is aggressively trying to rebuild ties with other countries such as Japan and the United States, there are concerns that South Korea is isolated from those moves," said Koh Yoo-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University.

Earlier this month, the Kim Jong-un regime released two Americans after U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper visited Pyongyang, while relations between North Korea and Japan have undergone rapid progress thanks to negotiations that resulted in the easing of sanctions against the North.

Meanwhile, however, the rhetorical battle between the rival Koreas continues to intensify on the Korean Peninsula.

On Saturday, the North's National Defense Commission repeated its calls for the South to stop ongoing military drills and anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns across the border.

Since Nov. 10, the South Korean military has carried out its annual war exercises involving all branches of service _ in the largest scale in nearly two decades _ to bolster its defense posture against the North. Some U.S. military forces have also joined in some of the drills.

In addition, referring to recent warning shots by South Korean soldiers at North Korean troops approaching the Military Demarcation Line, the North warned that such "provocations" will "lead to a great war of justice."

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly responded, saying, "Our military will deal with the North's provocations near the MDL with legitimate procedures and take strong actions."

"The North's announcements appear to push President Park to change her policy toward itself," said Professor Kim Yong-hyun of Dongguk University.

The latest bad scenario that put Seoul on the hot seat cropped up last week after the North announced that it would send Choe Ryong-hae, a secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, to Russia this week as a special envoy in an apparent attempt to ease diplomatic isolation.

"The North is willing to break its diplomatic isolation with other countries, if not available with the South or the U.S. So, if the North and Russia agree to hold a summit, the South will lose ground in Northeast Asia with regard to issues about the Korean Peninsula," Kim Geun-shik, a political science professor at Kyungnam University, said in an interview.

"With neighboring countries engaged in active diplomacy, the South needs to have some diplomatic leverage in the ties with the North in a swiftly shifting geopolitical landscape in Northeast Asia. However, there is no progress at all in the inter-Korean relations."

Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies, said, "The South should be assertive about North Korean issues. However, should the North continue to avoid the South, we may be degraded to a third party."

After the North let go of the detained American citizens, there were growing concerns here that Pyongyang is trying to deliberately sideline Seoul and open up a direct channel with Washington.

"That is the result which came from the South's pursuit of a strong stance despite the North's proposal for a conversation," Yang said.

A recent sticking point between South and North Korea are anti-North leaflets sent North Korean defectors-turned-activists across the border attached to balloons, which resulted in an exchange of fire across the border last month as well as the cancellation of a second round of senior-level talks.

Despite the seriousness, the government remains tepid on controlling the leaflets, just reiterating that it is unable to control the civilian campaign without proper legal grounds.

However, North Korea watchers have urged the government to take action against the campaign _ even now.

"Seoul does not ban the leaflet launches, but still seeks dialogue. It means that the South does not recognize the North as a partner," Koh said.

Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University, said, "The Roh Moo-hyun administration convinced the activists to send leaflets secretly and the North did not respond strongly."

"Much-publicized campaigns, aimed at promoting activist groups, are the most serious problem."

The international community is moving to refer North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the International Criminal Court to stand trial for violations of human rights and the South backs the action.

However, Yang said that the Park government had better take a step back from the move and play a mediatory role between the international community and Pyongyang.

"In terms of universal human values, the issue of human rights in North Korea is important. However, while the two Koreas are still technically at war, we should approach the issue strategically," he said.