The U.S. to “Induce Regime Transformation of North Korea”

Stephen Hadley, designated national security adviser in the White House stated that the U.S. has no plans to bring regime change or collapse of North Korea but instead a “gradual transformation.”

At a gathering of Korean correspondents in Washington on December 7, the visiting party of nine statesmen to the U.S. (headed by Representative Kim Hyuk-kyu), including Representatives Chung Eui-yong, Park Jin, and Chae Soo-chan conveyed as above while introducing the interview they had with high-profile officials of the U.S. administration.

Concerning “regime transformation” in particular, the leader of the visiting party Representative Kim said that Senior Director for Asian Affairs of the NSC Michael Green explained, “To be more specific, it means economic regime transformation.”

Appointee Hadley also added, “President George W. Bush firmly believes in resolving the North Korea nuclear issue in the framework of the six-party talks. It is necessary to conduct some sort of ‘managed pressure’ for Pyongyang to return to the talks, and the united voice of the five nations is one such method.”

Deputy Secretary of State Department Richard Armitage stressed to the visiting party, “The U.S. has no intention to attack North Korea. Yet if the six-party talks fails, it will be consulting its allies on the submission of the problem to the Security Council.”

Concerning the Gaeseong Complex project, appointee Hadley and Deputy Secretary Armitage said, “It’s a good idea, and the U.S. plans to support it fully within its technology and legal boundaries.”

Regarding the light-water reactor project in North Korea, Deputy Secretary Armitage explained, “(We) conveyed to North Korea that if it renounces its nuclear programs first, we can discuss alternative ways to satisfy its electricity demand, and we also have the intention to research the supply and demand of electricity in the country.”

He said, “The U.S. cannot be confident about the future of KEDO, which has been pursuing the light-water reactor project in North Korea, but we agreed to the suspension rather than complete abortion of the project so that it won’t pose a hindrance to the six-party talks.”

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com