Asia Times: Pyongyang urged to do more


	November 30, 2001	atimes.com

The Koreas

Pyongyang urged to do more

SEOUL - Japan, South Korea and the United States have urged North Korea, which is still blacklisted by the United States as a terrorism-sponsoring state, to bolster its cooperation with the ongoing global drive to combat terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

In a statement issued after a meeting of senior officials in San Francisco on Tuesday, the three countries said they "took positive note" that North Korea had earlier this month signed two terrorism-related conventions sponsored by the United Nations, the first time ever Pyongyang has signed a UN convention on anti-terrorism. But they also encouraged North Korea to "take further steps to confirm its cooperation with international anti-terrorism initiatives and opposition to international terrorism", and called on North Korea to resume dialogue with South Korea in the wake of the inter-Korean ministerial talks held from November 9-14, which failed to produce any agreements. Pyongyang broke off the talks in protest at Seoul's decision to put its troops on high alert in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The San Francisco statement says Tokyo, Seoul and Washington "shared the view that enhanced inter-Korean dialogue was central to efforts to reduce tension and increase stability on the Korean Peninsula". The three countries also reiterated their commitment to the steady implementation of a 1994 accord on North Korea's nuclear program and urged Pyongyang to take steps to address the concerns of the international community. The accord requires North Korea to freeze its plutonium program in return for billions of dollars in fuel aid and two light-water reactors. The meeting is part of a continuing process of consultations formalized in Hawaii in April 1999 as the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group.

In its first official actions to renounce terrorism, North Korea signed a UN treaty designed to block financing for terrorism and acceded to another international convention against the taking of hostages, senior South Korean officials said here on Wednesday. The North Korean action on the two international conventions was taken by its representative to the United Nations in New York on November 12, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

South Korean and US officials have repeatedly said that North Korea's concrete actions to renounce terrorism would help the communist state to improve ties with the United States, as well as receive economic and humanitarian assistance from the international community. The North's ratification of the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing Terrorism is seen as a bid to be excluded from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism, the officials said. North Korea, along with Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Libya, remains on the US list. The 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages calls for member countries to take all measures they consider appropriate to ease the situation of the hostages and secure their release.

North Korea has condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, but it said it is opposed to the US-led military strike against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Since September 11, US officials have welcomed the North's statements condemning them, but called for more concrete actions, such as the signing of international anti-terrorism treaties. Obviously not satisfied with the steps taken so far by Pyongyang, President George W Bush earlier this week singled out Iraq and North Korea for warnings against continuing to produce and export weapons of mass destruction while refusing international inspections, leading many analysts to speculate that North Korea could be next in the US gunsights after Afghanistan.

However, in Seoul on Wednesday, Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin stressed that despite Bush's warning to the North, "There will be no US-initiated war against the North, as South Korea and the United States are coordinating their North Korea policies."

Others are not so sure, however.

"I think there is a genuine split within the administration, within the Congress, within the country as to how to proceed in the next phase on terrorism," said former Congressman Lee Hamilton, now an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center. "The president needs to articulate very clearly again what the targets are of our war on terrorism," Hamilton said. "It is terrorism with a global reach, particular terrorist organizations? Is it countries that harbor or develop weapons of mass destruction? Is it only countries that harbor terrorists? What really are the targets that we're aiming at in this war on terrorism. I think there has been a loosening if you will of the objectives the president originally stated and it's become less clear just what are our targets. .... Now if you want to take on another whole objective, which is to stop weapons of mass destruction from being developed in countries, you better spell out exactly what you are planning to do and how you plan to get there. The administration is a long way from doing that."

"North Korea is a different situation as well," said Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, reacting to the speculation that Washington will next direct its attention to the regimes in Baghdad and Pyongyang. "Different area, different dynamics, different leader, different possibilities. Syria is different from Iraq. Each of these nations must be dealt with based on their own specific situation."

US seen as the key
At a recent conference on "Korea and the Search for Peace in Northeast Asia" in Kyoto, many North Korean specialists argued that the North sees little value in interacting with a lame-duck president in the South and that it is now up to the US to take the initiative to revive the Peninsula peace process. But, as one participant wryly noted, it was North Korean actions that prematurely lamed the duck - Pyongyang's past behavior has made President Kim Dae-jung so weak politically that he now has virtually no flexibility in dealing with the North. By missing yet another opportunity to get North-South dialogue back on track, the North has reduced the likelihood of US-North Korean rapprochement as well, especially since the North continues to insist that Bush "return to the policies of his predecessor [Bill Clinton]" as a precondition to a resumption of dialogue.

Washington is not unwilling to talk with Pyongyang, however. For months, the Bush administration has expressed willingness to conduct a "comprehensive dialogue" with North Korea.

With inter-Korean relations showing signs of backsliding, President Kim appears less sure that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will visit South Korea as promised. "I cannot be fully certain about it," Kim said on Wednesday when asked whether he thought the North Korean leader would fulfill his promise to visit Seoul. President Kim has insisted Kim Jong-il visit Seoul because he promised to do so during their historic summit in Pyongyang last year. A presidential aide said the President Kim's latest remarks represent a backward step from his previous optimism about Kim Jong-il's visit.

Still, despite the setbacks in relations, President Kim said he has not given up on his "Sunshine" policy of engaging the North. "Although we are disappointed, we are not downright discouraged by it because, when we are dealing with the North Koreans, of course we will experience setbacks, but we experience progress as well," Kim said.

President Kim again called for the United States and North Korea to resume talks so the two sides can discuss pending issues, including any programs in the communist state involving weapons of mass destruction. "Both sides have many things to tell each other. So I hope that both sides will be able to sit down face-to-face and discuss these issues," Kim said.

((c)2001 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact ads@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)