Korean peninsula vs. Bush adm. (6) How to coordinate North Korea policies?

(1) Will N.K.-U.S. framework change?
(2) Powell`s Korea policy
(3) Revision of North Korean aid policy
(4) Impact of NMD and TMD
(5) Reduction of U.S. forces in Korea
(6) How to coordinate North Korea policies?
(7) Pressure to rise for market opening

The launch in Washington of the administration of George W. Bush is expected to have a significant impact on the tripartite relationship among Korea, the United States and Japan.

Heretofore, the logical foundation of the tripartite policy coordination was Seoul's engagement policy with North Korea and the United States' Perry process. The two policies underlined a group of disincentives (restraints) and incentives (inducements).

Government officials said the engagement policy with the North was not based on a give-and-take formula, or unilateral giving. The policy was based on the expectation that if the North continues to bask in the warm sunshine policy, it will shed its mantle of antagonism and isolation and turn to reform and openness.

The officials elaborated that the Perry process calls for the North's abandonment of military provocations against the South, and the renunciation of its nuclear and missile development ambitions, in return for a U.S. guarantee of the North's security, assistance for its economic revival and support for its advancement into the international community.

However, it was necessary for the three allies to introduce a mechanism to coordinate their North Korea policies in terms of setting the tone and pace of changes so as to keep Pyongyang from receiving incentives without the need to reciprocate.

The organization with this role is the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG), established in June 1999. So far it has successfully fulfilled its assigned role.

But the Bush administration seems to think that tripartite coordination has been excessively tilted toward giving incentives to the North and stopped short of forestalling various side effects. Accordingly, the new U.S. administration holds the view that a new body for policy coordination should be set up.

The Bush administration sees the necessity of a coordination device like TCOG, but because of its strict reciprocity and verification policy line, the Bush administration will have to devote more time and effort to establishing a new tripartite coordination framework.