By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff reporter
Can any major progress be made regarding the resumption of six-party talks this week?
Chances for the reopening of the denuclearization dialogue in the near future appear to be low, although two major events, where heightened security on the Korean Peninsula is to be addressed, are to be held this week.
Yu Myung-hwan, minister of foreign affairs and trade, and Kim Tae-young, minister of national defense, are scheduled to sit down with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the “2+2” meeting, Wednesday.
The high-level talks will take place at a time when tensions on the Korean peninsula show few signs of abating even though the UN Security Council (UNSC) wrapped up the case concerning the sinking of the warship Cheonan with the release of a statement censuring the attack that killed 46 sailors but not blaming the North explicitly.
During the “2+2” meeting, the two sides will discuss a joint-naval exercise, the denuclearization of North Korea, the transfer of wartime operation control from the USFK to Korea, and regional and global issues.
After the meeting, Korea and the United States are scheduled to release a joint statement regarding these issues.
On the prospects of progress for the resumption of the six-party talks, a government official said on condition of anonymity that frankly he didn’t see any possibility of the government changing its position on North Korea.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade reiterated that North Korea should apologize for the attack on the warship and show sincere efforts for denuclearization.
The official said imposing sanctions on the North will not be included in the joint statement.
After wrapping up the meeting, Minister Yu and Secretary Clinton will fly to Vietnam for the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
At the forum, ministers of the six-party member governments – South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia — will discuss the sinking of the frigate Cheonan.
A government source said on condition of anonymity that many countries are interested in knowing more about the case. But he was skeptical that the six-party talks will be addressed in great detail at the forum.
“Our official position on the Cheonan case is that the UNSC has made its judgment on the maritime disaster by releasing the presidential statement,” the official said.
South Korea plans to cite the statement in the regional forum in an effort to pressure North Korea to take responsibility.
Regarding the chances of mentioning the attack in an ARF statement, the official said two possibilities were open.
“If the statement is going to make our points regarding the maritime attack clear, we will push for it. But if North Korea has a say in the statement, we doubt that kind of statement will have any meaning,” he said.