China calls for Park to respond to N. Korea's conciliatory move
By Sunny Lee
Qu Xing
BEIJING – A prominent Chinese foreign affairs expert, who recently visited North Korea, has called for President-elect Park Geun-hye to take a conciliatory approach toward the North, saying Kim Jong-un desires to mend fences with the South.
“Kim Jong-un will observe what kind of signals South Korea and the U.S. send. I think therefore sending the right signal is very important,” said Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS).
CIIS is the think tank under China’s foreign ministry, comparable to South Korea’s Institute of Foreign Affairs & National Security (IFANS).
Qu was responding to a question raised by The Korea Times, at the Lanting Forum in late December at the Chinese foreign ministry.
“You can ponder that question yourself. Yet, frequent military drills (by South Korea and the U.S.) wouldn’t be very helpful,” said Qu. “What we have seen so far is a vicious tit-for-tat cycle of incidents between the two Koreas.”
He then urged Park, who will officially take office in late February, not to miss the new reconciliatory opportunity with North Korea, saying the two Koreas are at a “historical moment.”
The former career diplomat said Kim Jong-un is a reform-minded leader, although he has to play along the North Korean political system. “Although Kim Jong-un keeps what is already put in place in North Korea’s political situation, he will also introduce new initiatives,” he predicted.
Qu also illustrated how the North has completely different expectations about South Korea’s incumbent and next leader, gleaned from his recent visit to Pyongyang. “North Koreans told me that they don't hold out any hope for the Lee Myung-bak administration, but they place their hopes with the new South Korean administration.”
Since Park’s election, the North has been refraining from criticizing her. After Kim Jong-un made a New Year’s speech, the French daily newspaper, Le Figaro, said North Korea was sending an olive branch toward the South. Analysts view Pyongyang is waiting for Park’s response, hopefully a positive one.
When The Korea Times asked Qu separately, after the forum, how South Korea could believe whether North Korea was genuine with its charm offensive, saying that South Korea has been cheated many times in the past, he said: “Mistrust lies on both sides of the two Koreas.”
Qu emphasized the importance of confidence-building measures, pointing out that a lack of trust was the reason Lee’s policy towards North Korea, enshrined in his “Vision 3000” program, failed. The policy was aimed at helping open up the reclusive North by providing economic assistance in cooperation with the international community on the condition that Pyongyang got rid of its nuclear weapons programs first. Eventually, the policy was supposed to help raise North Korea's per capita income to $3,000 within a decade.
“That sounds good. But the precondition is that North Korea should first denuclearize. In the serious absence of military and security trust, how could you expect the North to first denuclearize?” Qu said, underscoring that Park’s first task is to repair trust.
Taken together, Qu thinks South Korea should now take the driver’s seat in moving inter-Korean relations onto a positive track. “How the new South Korean government responds to the North Korean message is the key,” he said.