It is premature to expect Pyongyang to return to the six-nation denuclearization talks any time soon. There was no breakthrough during a meeting between the United States and North Korea in Beijing last week. Glyn Davies, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, said the two sides made “a little bit of progress.”
His remark showed that the international community still faces a rocky road ahead for luring the North back to the six-party talks and go down the path of denuclearization. He said the meeting was only a “good start,” adding that there is a long way to go before Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapons program.
Of course, no one believes that there is a quick fix to the problem. However, we don’t have to be too pessimistic about the denuclearization process. The question is how to make the North re-engage and take a sincere step toward nuclear disarmament. It is necessary to provide some incentives such as humanitarian aid for staving North Koreans if Pyongyang takes substantive action for denuclearization.
The Beijing meeting was the first contact between the U.S. and the North since the death of Kim Jong-il in late December. It was also the third of its kind since July 2011. Shortly before Kim’s passing, the North was close to agreeing to the resumption of the six-party talks in return for food assistance. Pyongyang continues to vie for food aid as its negotiators raised this issue during the latest meeting.
The meeting provided a chance to check if the North’s new leadership is open to negotiations for denuclearization. Its top priority appeared to be nutritional assistance from the U.S. It is not certain whether it has any real intention of giving up its nuclear ambition. Pyongyang also seemed to use the talks with Washington to help Kim Jong-un, successor to his late father, consolidate his power.
What’s regrettable is that the younger Kim has revived the North’s outdated tactic of holding direct talks with America while marginalizing South Korea. That’s why Davies and his South Korean counterpart Lim Sung-nam reaffirmed a firm principle that the U.S. would not mend ties with the North without progress in inter-Korean relations. This may raise hopes that Seoul and Pyongyang will hold talks one way or another.
The Lee Myung-bak administration needs to take a pro-active approach to holding a bilateral meeting with the North. It would be better to get out of the deadlock created by the North’s sinking of the South’s warship Cheonan and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea in 2010. This does not mean that the South should leave the North unaccountable for its provocations. Rather, Seoul should get Pyongyang back to talks to discuss how to prevent hostility, ease tension and move toward reconciliation on the peninsula.
Seoul and Washington must step up cooperation to have more dialogue with the North on a bilateral and multilateral basis. They also have to work together with the other six-party members, China, Japan and Russia. More importantly, Pyongyang should display its sincerity toward denuclearization, reconciliation and peace.
We urge the North to take a first important step by halting its uranium enrichment program. No one can trust it without such a move. Pyongyang should also faithfully comply with a 2005 denuclearization agreement reached at the six-party talks. Its refusal to do so will prove that the communist state has no intention to dismantle its nuclear program. It will only deepen its isolation and bring further woes to the already-impoverished nation. It should make a wise choice for its own survival and coexistence.