North’s exit strategy

Carter advised to mediate for diffusing tension

Inter-Korean tension has been escalating to the brink of military engagement. Korea and the United States are planning a military exercise off the West Coast. U.S. stealth bombers are on a standby at Japanese and Guam airbases, ready for a strike on any point in the North within one hour. The North threatened to destroy loudspeakers the South is installing to resume anti-Kim Jong-il psychological warfare on the DMZ. This attack will provoke counterattacks from the South.

All inter-Korean agreements have been scrapped and all hot lines suspended, even including Red Cross contacts. The situation looks more serious now than in 1994. At that time, tensions between the United States and North Korea reached a point of an armed conflict over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

As the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers encircled the North, Kim Il-sung hastily invited former President Jimmy Carter and his wife to Pyongyang with the hope of diffusing the hair-triggering dispute. Kim agreed to freeze the nuclear program in exchange for dialogue with the United States. The first planned inter-Korean summit did not materialize as the senior Kim died during his preparation for a meeting with President Kim Young-sam in the summer of that year. North Korea went on resuming its production of nuclear weapons after U.S. President George W. Bush later described North Korea as part of an axis of evil.

Now is the time for Kim Jong-il to invite Carter to Pyongyang. He should provide irrefutable evidence that North Korea was not behind the attack. Or he must admit North Korea's attack and make a sincere apology while promising not to repeat the crime. This will contribute to diffusing the tension on the Korea Peninsula although it may take time to appease the angry South Koreans. Nobody in the South wants a war with the North. He must declare that North Korea will stop all hostile activities toward the South including rejoining the six-party denuclearization talks. An inter-Korean summit may be an option if he is sincere enough. Seoul may give him the benefit of the doubt so that he could admit the wrongdoing without losing face.

Carter has been instrumental in defusing tensions and conflicts worldwide and may be the American statesman whom Kim trusts most.

The South and the United States should give the North time so that she can make an apology for the hostility before taking a hard-line stance. This is in line with the U.S. policy of strategic patience in dealing with the North. The world is watching the latest developments. Many South Koreans, including liberals and conservatives, began to worry about a possible military conflict. History shows that many wars took place coincidentally, not always following a premeditated plot.

It is time for the Nobel Peace Laureate to show his role for mediating a Korean Peninsula conflict resolution. Koreas need the wisdom of the American statesman.