Hastened Washington summit

In the wake of President Kim Dae-Jung` meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush on Mar. 7, which revealed their differing perceptions of the Pyongyang leadership, Korea experts in America focused on the United States` new North Korea policy direction and the evolution of the Seoul-Washington partnership. The opinions of these specialists should be reflected in the Bush administration`s new North Korea policy, which has yet to be fully formulated.

On Mar. 12, about 20 officials of the Clinton and Bush administrations, who had worked or are working on the Korea question, as well as researchers from major think tanks, gathered in a private seminar in Washington to assess the outcome of the Kim-Bush summit. A diversity of views on the Korean question was presented, though the meeting was off limits to the press. One of the participants said there was a wide range of opinions voiced but the general consensus was that the Kim-Bush meeting was not completely successful. He said one criticism was that the White House was not well prepared while the Seoul government made undue haste, thus failing to lead the summit to a fruitful end. Most of the old Korea hands at the seminar urged President Bush to put priority on the nation`s North Korea policy and work to develop a fresh plan, the participant said.

Debates also focused on whether Washington should abide by the Geneva agreement of 1994, under which North Korea promised to freeze its nuclear development program and the U.S. and its allies pledged to build light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea. Republican hard-liners are openly demanding the framework accord be scrapped while moderates are calling for continued adherence to the agreement because its abandonment would greatly undercut and complicate not only relations between Washington and Pyongyang but also the North Korea policies of Seoul and Tokyo.

Korea specialists are planning to organize a private forum on the issue in late March to weigh the gravity of the Geneva agreed framework. ``It is true that differences exist in the North Korea policies of South Korea and the United States,`` a Republican expert on Korean affairs said. ``And Seoul`s engagement policy was bound to suffer a setback if President Kim visited Washington at a time when the new administration was in the process of reviewing its foreign policy following the transfer of power.``

A source who was involved in foreign policymaking for former President Clinton said it took six months for the Clinton administration to work out its North Korea policy. ``The Bush administration is also likely to need several months to come up with its own stance on North Korea,`` he said.

Han Ki-Heung eligius@donga.com