Two leaders to use carrot and stick on NK

President Park Geun-hye, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Barack Obama after a press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday. / Yonhap

Pyongyang told to drop nuclear weapons program

By Kim Tae-gyu

WASHINGTON ― President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama urged North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions and change its behavior for mutual prosperity during a press conference after their summit in the White House, Tuesday (local time).

The two warned the North that bad behavior won’t be rewarded any more.

Park suggested the United States and other countries join her to send consistent messages to prompt transformation of the belligerent regime that continues its missile and nuclear threats.

“With regard to North Korea’s bad behavior and provocations, the international community must speak with one voice and consistently send a firm message that they will not stand for this, and that North Korea’s actions in breach of international norms will be met with sanctions,” Park said.

“At the same time, we also need to let them know that if it chooses the right path, there will be rewards. So if we consistently send that message to North Korea, I feel that it will be left with no choice but to change.”

The remarks, which were delivered in her first overseas trip as a leader of state timed with the 60th anniversary of the alliance between the two countries, are in line with her flagship “Korean Peninsula Trust Process” policy, or trustpolitik, based on a carrot-and-stick approach.

Even though Pyongyang has recently shown signs of scaling down its threats and aggression, Park talked more about “sticks” rather than “carrots” through reaffirming her stance of not tolerating any provocation.

“If North Korea engages in provocation, I will fully trust the judgment of our military. So if our military makes a judgment which they feel is the right thing, then they should act accordingly. And that is the instruction I have given,” she said.

President Obama said that Park’s policy framework is compatible with the U.S. stance.

“As I want to emphasize, President Park and myself very much share the view that we are going to maintain a strong deterrent capability, that we’re not going to reward provocative behavior,” Obama said.

“But we remain open to the prospect of North Korea taking a peaceful path of denuclearization, abiding by international commitments, rejoining the global community, and seeing a gradual progression in which both security and prosperity for the people of North Korea can be achieved.”

Asked how he evaluated the Korean Peninsula Trust Process, Obama said it is “exactly the right approach.”

“President Park’s approach is very compatible with my approach and the approach that we have been taking together for several years now,” Obama said.

He also noted that the North’s brinkmanship of resorting to warlike rhetoric and aggressive actions will not work anymore.

“If Pyongyang thought its recent threats would drive a wedge between South Korea and the United States, or somehow garner the North international respect, today is further evidence that North Korea has failed again,” he said.

“The U.S. and South Korea are as unified as ever. And faced with new international sanctions, North Korea is more isolated than ever. In short, the days when North Korea could create a crisis and elicit concessions, those days are over.”

Obama promised that Washington’s commitment to the security of Seoul will never waver against any threats.

On top of political ties, the two state heads agreed to take their partnership to the next level through broad-based cooperation in such segments as trade based on their free trade agreement.

In the Joint Declaration the two announced after the summit, they pledged to strengthen and nurture the alliance to serve as a “linchpin of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and to meet the security challenges of the 21st century.”

Concerning the Atomic Energy Agreement between the two, which bans Seoul recycling spent nuclear waste due to concerns of proliferation, the two sides opened up the possibility to drastically revise it.

They also said that the handover of wartime operational control in 2015 will be dealt with in a way to beef up their deterrent capabilities against the bellicose North.