World Watcher: DPRK, US Seek Full-Scale Improvement of Relations

A series of great changes of crucial significance are taking place on the Korean Peninsula presently. Since the June 13-15 summit meeting between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea, relations between the DPRK and the US have been improving at an extraordinary rate. Meanwhile, Western countries are gradually normalizing diplomatic relations with the DPRK.

The relaxation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula is drawing worldwide attention.

From October 9 to 12, Vice Marshal Cho Myong Rok, special envoy of DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, visited the United States. The DPRK and the United States issued a joint communique in Washington, agreeing to improve bilateral relations and to build "a new relationship free from past enmity."

On October 22, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited the DPRK to discuss with the DPRK the improvement of U.S.-DPRK relations and to pave the way for U.S. President Bill Clinton's planned visit to the DPRK.

The two visits are important steps in the normalization of relations between the DPRK and the United States. They represent a turning point, from a history of confrontation to a process of detente.

In the early 1950s, the United States invaded Korea and the Korean War broke out. After the end of the war, the United States had been applying a policy of containment against the DPRK. The DPRK and the United States were in a state of confrontation in various forms. After the end of the Cold War, changes took place in international relations and the relations between the DPRK and the United States entered a trend of detente and improvement.

Since the early 1990s, the DPRK and the United States have been making more and more diplomatic contacts. The "nuclear" and "missile" issues concerning the DPRK sparked fierce confrontation between the DPRK and the United States, and the two countries conducted numerous official talks to relieve tensions. The DPRK-US dialogues resulted in cooperative efforts in the fields of security and human rights on the Korean Peninsula.

Since 1999, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in neighboring regions has been improving. The DPRK has begun readjusting its foreign policies, making great efforts to improve bilateral relations with neighboring countries, attaching importance to developing relations with Western countries and actively seeking improvement of relations with the United States.

On the basis of a report submitted by William Perry, former US Defense Secretary and coordinator for DPRK policy-making, US policies on the DPRK have become more flexible. The US has partially changed its policy of containment against the DPRK.

Following the development of dialogue with the DPRK on the nuclear issue, the United States announced that it would drop certain economic sanctions against the DPRK. The historic summit meeting between the heads of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea enabled the two countries to embark upon a path of reconciliation and cooperation.

The improvement of relations between the DPRK and the United States is aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries eventually.

The nuclear agreement signed between the DPRK and the United States in October 1994 in Geneva stipulated that the two countries would normalize both political and economic relations and establish liaison offices and eventually embassies in each other's capitals.

However, relations between the two countries have not yet been normalized because of various reasons. During DPRK Vice Marshal Cho Myong Rok's recent visit to the United States, leaders of the DPRK and the United States expressed their desire to establish normal relations. If US Secretary of State Albright's visit to the DPRK successfully paves the way for President Clinton's visit, it will be the first time in history that a US president is to visit a country that does not have diplomatic relations with the US.

The North and South sides of the Korean Peninsula and the international community do not wish to see the abnormal ties between Pyongyang and Washington. As the DPRK and the United States seek to establish diplomatic relations, many countries have been voicing their support.

Many other Western countries are also seeking to establish diplomatic ties with the DPRK. Since the beginning of this year, the DPRK has established or restored diplomatic relations with Italy, Australia and the Philippines. Recently, Germany and Britain have expressed their desire to establish diplomatic ties with the DPRK.

The normalization process between the DPRK and the United States are based upon the international principle of peaceful co-existence. The process will be conducive to the process of reconciliation and peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, and will have a positive impact on the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Analysts say that the two countries still have to overcome significant obstacles before bilateral relations can be normalized.

The United States has yet to fundamentally change its policy of containment against the DPRK. The United States will probably continue pressuring the DPRK on "nuclear" and "missile" issues.

Analysts add that only after the U.S. abandons its containment policy and stops carrying out an Asia-Pacific military strategy based on the pretext of a DPRK threat, can DPRK-U.S. relations be developed.

Ending decades-long sanctions against the DPRK will be a necessary prerequisite for the normalization of relations between the two countries, they note.

Four-side talks have begun to replace the armistice mechanism with a peaceful regime.

In a recent letter sent to U.S. President Bill Clinton, DPRK leader Kim Jong Il said DPRK-U.S. relations are at a critical stage -- the Koreans are willing to further exchange ideas with the U.S. on how to ease tensions on the peninsula and hope the two countries will further improve relations. U.S. President Clinton said he hopes U.S.-DPRK relations will enter a new era of reconciliation.

In the joint communique recently issued by the two governments, the two sides affirmed their goal of improved DPRK-U.S..

The DPRK and the U.S. have made substantial progress in improving bilateral relations. Now it's imperative for the two countries to remove obstacles and continue dialogue to turn the consensus reached between them into reality, for the eventual normalization of bilateral relations, say the analysts.

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