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[Editorial] N.K. Should Not Miss This Last Opportunity

Posted August. 26, 2003 21:58,   

한국어

Diplomats from North and South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China, and Russia will discuss measures to dismantle North Korea`s nuclear weapons program at six-way talks in Beijing, which will start today. There will be several bilateral talks on the sidelines among delegations from the six nations. The six-way talks are a crucial moment for the peaceful resolution of North Korea`s nuclear ambitions. Through these talks, participants could gain momentum on negotiations surrounding the North.

For the six-way talks to produce tangible results, first of all, North Korea should take a different attitude from in the past. If the North makes a nuclear bluff, as it did at the three-way talks, involving North Korea, China and the U.S., the voice of hardliners within the U.S. administration will be stronger and tensions will increase on the peninsula. The North should understand that its brinkmanship strategy, based on the idea that concessions are equal to death, will not pay off any more.

It is clear that nobody wants North Korea to go nuclear. A recent CNN report that Chinese President Hu Jintao warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to stop preparing for war and focus on economic recovery shows that China is joining a nuclear-free North Korea campaign along with the international community. Against this backdrop, the six-way talks that start today is the last opportunity for Pyongyang to exchange its nuclear weapons for a security guarantee in a safe way.

For the South Korean government, the six-way talks are a testing ground for its diplomatic skills. In particular, these talks are significant in that they are the first multilateral talks to deal with North Korea`s nuclear weapons programs, which could have a critical impact on security in South Korea.

The South Korean government should participate in the talks with the goal of establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. This time, it should try to dismantle North Korea`s nuclear weapons programs in a verifiable manner, not through incomplete stopgap measure like the 1994 Geneva Agreed Framework. To do so, it is the key to strengthening cooperation among South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. It is because the most effective way to induce the North to give up its nuclear weapons development lies in international cooperation. South Korea also needs to consult with China, which is now actively looking for solutions to the North Korea crisis. In a nutshell, the South Korean government should also know that this is the last opportunity to settle the nuclear crisis peacefully.