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Bush Administration Resumes Talks With DPRK Under Pressure
Facing increasing domestic and international pressure, the Bush administration announced Wednesday that it had wound up a lengthy review and decided to resume security talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"If North Korea (DPRK) responds affirmatively and takes appropriate action, we will expand our efforts to help the North Korean people, ease sanctions, and take other political steps," President George W. Bush said in a written statement.
He said he ordered his staff to discuss "a broad agenda" with DPRK, including the country's nuclear and missile programs as well as the posture of its conventional forces.
"We will pursue these discussions in the context of a comprehensive approach to North Korea (DPRK) which will seek to encourage progress toward North-South reconciliation, peace on the
Korean peninsula, a constructive relationship with the United States and greater stability in the region," the U.S. president said.
The tone was in sharp contrast to the extreme skepticism and hesitancy about engaging Pyongyang that the new U.S. administration, including Bush himself, had voiced over the past few months.
During the Clinton administration's final months in office, Washington and Pyongyang had engaged in intensive talks over missile issues and reportedly made substantial progress toward a deal. The Clinton team has urged their successors to pick up from where they left and clinch the deal through further talks.
When South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung came to Washington in March to seek support for his "sunshine" policy, however, the Bush team announced that they had no plan to resume contacts with DPRK in the near future because they were conducting a full review of policy toward that country.
Bush himself even resorted to Cold War rhetoric, saying that the DPRK was untrustworthy and did not live up to previous agreements.
The Bush administration's tough approach posed a major setback to President's Kim's engagement policy toward DPRK and has actually stalled the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula for months.
The approach has also drawn strong domestic and international criticism. The international community widely interprets the policy as an attempt by the Bush administration to use the DPRK's missile issue for justifying its controversial missile defense program.
Wary that the U.S. policy may derail the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula, South Koreans have repeatedly urged Washington to end the review as early as possible and re-open talks with DPRK.
Democrats and U.S. arms control experts also argue that the Bush administration is putting important U.S. security interests in danger by ignoring a chance to strike a deal with DPRK over the missile issue.
Meanwhile, angered by the delay in negotiations, top DPRK officials have recently told a visiting U.S. scholar that Pyongyang will cut short a two-year-old moratorium on long-range missile tests unless the Bush administration shows it is willing to consider normalizing relations, according to The Washington Post on Monday.
While warning Pyongyang not to lift the moratorium, the Bush team convened a meeting on Tuesday to wind up its policy review toward DPRK and reportedly held extensive discussions.
U.S. officials said that Secretary of State Colin Powell will communicate the U.S. plan to South Korean Foreign and Trade Minister Han Seung-soo in a meeting here on Thursday. Han arrived in Washington on Wednesday night.
According to the officials, contacts with DPRK will begin at a low level and then be replaced by high level discussions at some point, assuming both sides agree. Nevertheless, no date has been set for the resumption of talks.
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