'Seoul must seek greater Chinese engagement'

By Chung Min-uck

Michael Green

Michael Green, an expert on North Korea, said Friday that President Park Geun-hye’s diplomacy for the next six months will affect whether China will join South Korea and the U.S. to pressure North Korea to scrap its nuclear programs.

In the first issue of the Asan Forum, an online journal newly launched by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Green of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) wrote in his special commentary, “The government of Park Geun-hye thinks change in China’s role on the peninsula is possible,” adding that the “diplomacy of the coming six months may tell whether that is so.”

He reasoned that Pyongyang’s declaration of nuclear weapons status has led Beijing to increase pressure on the North, finding itself increasingly on the side of the U.S.

However, the U.S. expert cautioned that Chinese pressure may ebb once Pyongyang agrees to again “pretend it is committed to the principle of denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

“North Korean unpredictability could alter the great power dynamics around the peninsula,” Moore said. “Alternately, a growing North Korean threat unchecked by China could cause tighter security cooperation among U.S. allies, introducing a new, though perhaps unavoidable source of friction in U.S.-China relations.”

Unprecedentedly, Chinese leaders have been expressing their firm will in opposition to the North’s nuclear programs following the communist ally’s third nuclear test on Feb. 12.

In a joint communiqué adopted by Seoul and Beijing following summit meetings held earlier this month, the two sides agreed to strive to make the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a strong message of denuclearization when meeting with a North Korean envoy to Beijing prior to the Seoul-Beijing summit.

The U.S. and China also found themselves by and large in agreement concerning the general goal of denuclearizing North Korea at their summit meetings and fifth Strategic and Economic Dialogue held last week.

Some analysts pointed out, however, China used the phrase “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” instead of “denuclearization of North Korea” in a joint statement meaning it prefers dialogue over sanctions in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.