Terms of dialogue

North Korea should match words with deeds

It is worth noting remarks by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities will pose a serious threat to America within five years. After meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on Tuesday, Gates said Pyongyang will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) within that time frame.

Gates has become the first ranking U.S. official to describe the North’s continuing development of atomic bombs and ICBMs as a “direct threat” to the United States. The five-year time frame is also surprising as the U.S. Defense Department said in a report last February that North Korea will only be able to make ICBMs with nuclear warheads within 10 years.

Gates’ remarks have significant implications as the North is now making peace overtures in the wake of its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island near the West Sea border last November and its torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March. Pyongyang has proposed to resume the stalled six-party talks for its denuclearization and hold inter-Korean talks.

However, Seoul and Washington are still reserved about an immediate return to the six-nation talks as they are still doubtful of the North’s real intentions. They are urging Pyongyang to make more sincere actions before seeking to sit at the negotiating table. The Kim Jong-il regime should meet some conditions for talks to dispel suspicions that it has only made disguised peace gestures.

In this context, Gates has called on the North to impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile testing to help revive the six-party process. He is right to set the terms of the talks. He wants the North to display its readiness to comply with its commitments to denuclearization. He also intends to caution Pyongyang against its potential bid to conduct a third nuclear test and a new round of long-range missile tests.

It is important to set the aim and direction of future denuclearization talks since the North has repeatedly played a cat-and-mouse game to secretly develop nuclear arms, while engaging in talks. No one knows when North Korea will break from the talks even if it comes to the table anytime soon. It is also necessary to let Pyongyang realize that this will be the last chance for its leaders to prove its true intention of complying with its denuclearization pledges and move toward peace.

The North has escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia by reneging on its commitments and operating uranium enrichment facilities. It has also turned up the hostility through a set of provocations. In one way or another, Pyongyang should take some meaningful steps to take responsibility for its saber-rattling. These steps might include a promise not to attack the South again as well as a moratorium on nuclear tests and missile launches. It remains to be seen whether the North will match its words for peace with deeds.