ed Park-Obama summit

Sticks, carrots should go together to solve nuclear crisis

U.S. President Barack Obama flew into Seoul Friday for his fourth visit to Korea, the most by an American leader.

President Obama, staying here in the middle of one of the nation’s worst maritime disasters, seems to be doing his best to console his host government and people, managing a tight but low-key schedule.

Koreans will appreciate the U.S. President’s careful concern. They will also welcome the U.S.’s return of nine royal seals of the Joseon Kingdom. These are this country’s precious cultural properties but were taken out by American troops during the Korean War more than 60 years ago.

President Park Geun-hye’s summit with her U.S. counterpart was also meaningful in that the two leaders reaffirmed their countries’ airtight security alliance against North Korea, which is showing signs of carrying out another, its fourth, nuclear test.

The visiting U.S. leader is right to warn Pyongyang that any more nuclear provocations will only keep the reclusive regime even more alienated from the rest of the world. It is also true, however, no amount of threats and sanctions from the international community has succeeded in deterring the North’s ambition to become a nuclear power and be recognized as such.

This is also why this page has called for the allies to prepare some carrots as well as sticks for the recalcitrant regime. Obama’s single-minded adherence to outdated ― and ineffective ― “strategic patience” has left much to be desired, not least because it failed to positively respond to Park’s recent more flexible approach seeking to lower the bar to resuming the multilateral conference to denuclearize the North.

No less disappointing was the U.S. leader’s insufficient efforts to mediate between America’s two East Asian allies in his previous stopover. Obama raised, subtly but mistakably, Tokyo’s hand in the Sino-Japanese dispute over the Senkakus/ Diaoyu islands in South China Sea, while not saying a word about his host country’s historical regressions, highlighted by visits of nearly 150 Japanese political leaders to the Yasukuni Shrine which houses the remains of 14 Class A war criminals, just a day before the U.S. leader’s arrival.

We are afraid Obama’s seeming endorsement of their acts, and his embrace of Tokyo’s right to exercise collective self-defense, will give the wrong signal to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his party, who might think Washington has given them a blank check for their military resurgence in this part of the world without making due repentance for their imperial past.

President Obama and needs to realize his “pivot to Asia” will get nowhere if he fails to persuade ― or force ― Japan to own up to its past misdeeds before reasserting itself. If the U.S. keeps China at bay, that will also hinder what Washington alleges is one of its most important diplomatic goals in this region ― the denuclearization of North Korea ― by driving Beijing to more adhere to its ally-cum-buffer.

Peaceful solution of the North’s nuclear crisis and Japan’s self-reflection are two prerequisites for the success of Washington’s “rebalancing” policy in Asia.

President Park for her part may think Obama’s hints at delaying the handover of wartime operational control was a diplomatic success. If the cost exceeds benefits, however, Koreans will see it differently. There is much diplomatic homework to be done by the two leaders.