[Editorial] Does Korea Stand Alone?

While China, the U.S. and North Korea were talking about the resumption of the six-party talks, Korea was excluded completely. This is the outcome of what President Roh Moo-hyun has emphasized about self-reliant diplomacy to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. Korea has stuck to its Mt. Geumgang tourism business and Gaesong Industrial Complex project, which the U.S. opposed. It has also been reluctant to participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative aiming at stopping the shipment of weapons of mass destruction and related materials, citing chances of military conflicts. Korea has been at odds with the U.S. Some say that the U.S. may have excluded Korea in the negotiations to resume 6-way talks to prevent it from taking sides with the North.

There are more signs that the U.S. does not regard Korea as its trustworthy partner any more. Yesterday, Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state, left the U.S. on a round visits to Japan, China and Russia to discuss extending the PSI, but not to Korea. Some officials in the State Department said that one could easily guess the reason, implying that the U.S. does not have anything to expect from Korea. After Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s trip to Northeast Asia, officials said, “The widest gap in opinion was seen in Korea.”

The U.S. has already begun strategic consultations with China on the Korean Peninsula issue, including the future of North Korea. This started with the meeting in Beijing in August, last year, between U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo. As the talks of three countries in Beijing this time demonstrate, it cannot be ruled out that Korea will remain excluded in the negotiation process on the Korean peninsula issue.

Worse yet, our relations with North Korea are not anywhere closer. North Korea plunged the South into trouble by pushing ahead with missile tests while crying out “same nation.” Evidence shows the North’s spy activities. On the news of North Korea’s returning to the negotiating table, however, the first thing South Korean government thinks is resumption of rice and fertilizer aid.

President Roh pressed ahead with forming new teams of foreign affairs and national security with people about whom the U.S. has concerns: the one to whom the U.S. explicitly expressed its dislike, the one who blindly pursues engagement policy toward the North, and the one who was soft on espionage investigation. If Korea does not care about strained relationship with the U.S. and stands by the North that conducted nuclear tests, it can be isolated in the international community, even before North Korea.