US Stance on DPRK Softening?Facing increasing domestic and international pressure, the administration of US President George W. Bush announced on Wednesday that it had wound up a lengthy review and decided to resume security talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).Bush said in a written statement that if DPRK responds affirmatively and takes appropriate action, the United States will expand its efforts to ease sanctions and take other political steps to help the people of DPRK. Bush said he had ordered his staff to discuss "a broad agenda" with DPRK that included the country's nuclear and missile programmes as well as the posture of its conventional forces. "We will pursue these discussions in the context of a comprehensive approach to North Korea 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 US president said. The tone of the US president's message was in sharp contrast to the extreme skepticism and hesitancy about engaging DPRK that members of the new US administration, including Bush himself, had voiced over the past few months. During the Clinton administration's final months, Washington and Pyongyang had engaged in intensive talks over missile issues and reportedly made substantial progress toward a deal. The Clinton team had urged their successors to pick up from where they left off and clinch the deal through further talks. When the Republic of Korea (ROK) 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 towards that country. Bush himself resorted to Cold War rhetoric, saying the DPRK was untrustworthy and had not lived up to previous agreements. The Bush administration's tough approach represented a major setback for President Kim's policy of engagement with DPRK and has stalled the reconciliation process on the Korean Peninsula for months. The approach has also drawn strong criticism. The international community has widely interpreted the policy as an attempt by the Bush administration to use DPRK's missile issue as justification for its own controversial missile defence programme. Wary that the US stance on DPRK could derail the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula, people from ROK have repeatedly urged Washington to end the review as early as possible and re-open talks with their northern neighbour. Democrats and US arms control experts have also argued that the Bush administration is putting US security at risk by ignoring a chance to strike a deal with DPRK over the missile issue. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on Monday, top DPRK officials angered by the delay in negotiations have recently told a visiting US 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. While warning Pyongyang not to lift the moratorium, the Bush team convened a meeting on Tuesday and reportedly held extensive discussions to wind up its policy review towards DPRK. US officials said Secretary of State Colin Powell would communicate the US plan to ROK's Foreign and Trade Minister Han Seung-soo in a meeting here next Thursday. 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 to meet. Nevertheless, no date has been set for the resumption of talks. |
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