Boston bomb blast snatches U.S. attention from N. Korea

The bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon on Monday is over shadowing the North Korea issue that had heated up the U.S. political circles and media for more than a month. In an interview with the NBC on Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama has reaffirmed his administration’s position that there will be no dialogue or negotiations with the North without Pyongyang’s meaningful measures.

Major U.S. broadcasters have been filling most of their news hours with reports on the bombing since the incident. CNN sporadically reported on the North’s threats toward the South on Monday, but it carried few reports on North Korea on Tuesday.

If Washington and U.S. public opinions are immersed in domestic terror attacks for the time being, it is likely that U.S. Congress and the administration would focus less on North Korea. It is expected that as U.S. conservative hardliners speak up against terrorists and “rogue states” sponsoring terrorism, the Obama administration will have less room for seeking dialogue or negotiations with Pyongyang.

If it was North Korea’s intention to create a situation of confrontation and induce the U.S. to a negotiating table since Obama’s re-election, the Boston bombing has become a sudden, unexpected variable in Pyongyang’s strategy toward Washington.

“North Korea will probably think that it is unlucky,” said an official at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “North Korea might make additional provocations such as another nuclear test in order to attract U.S. attention back to Pyongyang.”

Meanwhile, North Korea has remained silent about the Boston incident. A day after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S., North Korea issued a statement under the name of its foreign ministry spokesman, noting that as a member of the United Nations, the North was opposed to any type of terrorism and any support for terrorism.

kyle@donga.com