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South Korea wants Obama to get serious

Lankan Ranger

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Aug 9, 2009
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South Korea wants Obama to get serious

The United States is talking tough but not tough enough for South Korean leaders when it comes to standing firm against North Korean entreaties to sit down and talk.

South Korea's worries about the US position were clear when President Lee Myung-bak met Friday with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the last appointment his five-day swing through the capitals of Northeast Asia.

After Gates expressed qualified openness to negotiations with North Korea, Lee reminded him of the need to settle the North Korean nuclear issue before the North celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung in April 2012. An official at the Blue House, the center of presidential power here, said Lee emphasized the issue after Gates had said renewed talks with North Korea were possible if the North ceased "dangerous provocations" and took "concrete steps" to meet its obligations.

Strong though Gates' words may have appeared, South Korean officials found them upsetting for one major omission. They said nothing specific about longstanding demands for North Korea to show signs, signals, or a polite mention if nothing else, about its nuclear program as a prelude to renewing six-party talks that North Korea has called for "with no preconditions".

South Korean officials are scarcely hiding their misgivings as US President Barack Obama primps and preens to receive China's President Hu Jintao at the White House on a state visit with all bells and whistles on Wednesday. The basic message from Seoul to Washington: South Korea wants Obama and Hu to get serious about getting rid of North Korea's nukes.

South Koreans know very well Hu will focus on renewing six-party talks sans "preconditions", as North Korea is demanding, and are again beseeching the US to stand fast by its Korean ally. Hu confirmed South Korean worries in written responses to questions by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post in which he credited "joint efforts by China and other parties" for bringing about "signs of relaxation" of tensions.

Why not "engage in active interactions", resume "dialogue and consultation" - and "move forward" all in accordance with the joint statement of September 19, 2005, calling for "an appropriate solution to the Korean nuclear issue" and "lasting peace and stability on the peninsula".

The view from the Blue House can be paraphrased as we've heard all that stuff before, nothing worked, so who's to think it will work now? The only question here is whether Obama and company will fall for it. Or, more exactly, might the US, after all the nice talk about the enduring nature of the alliance, try to persuade South Korea to back down from its demands for North Korea to apologize for the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea in November and the sinking of the navy corvette the Cheonan in nearby waters in March.

Or, since North Korea has proudly boasted of shelling Yeonpyeong, how about apologizing for that incident, in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed? That much, at least, the Blue House believes North Korea can do. As for the sinking of the Cheonan, in which 46 sailors died, no one expects North Korea suddenly to 'fess up for the deed, in which it goes on denying any role.

"North Korea needs to settle the issue of provocations," said Hahm Chai-bong, director of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, suggesting that one apology, for the Yeonpyeong shelling, might suffice. And then, what is still less likely, he added, "North Korea should go back to previous freezing" of its nuclear program.

That phraseology no doubt means no more tests but offers no guarantee the North won't go on enriching uranium for the Yongbyon nuclear complex, fabricating ever more nuclear devices on a brand new 20-megawatt reactor that the North showed off to American nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker in October. The output of that reactor would be in addition to the dozen or so warheads already produced at the old five-megawatt plutonium reactor in the same complex.

Then, almost incidentally but crucial to South Koreans, there's the question of inter-Korean dialogue. While calling for renewing the six-party talks, last held more than two years ago in Beijing, the North is saying nothing about preliminary talks with South Korea. The North's position has been, we'll talk to the South about trade, family visits, tourism, but we're only dealing with the US on the nuclear issue or a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War.

The purpose of the talks all along has been to negotiate an end to North Korea's nuclear program, but influential Koreans are sure North Korea has no intention of abandoning its nukes. The construction of a new reactor has convinced everyone here that North Korea, by returning to talks, may put off more incidents for a while but will do nothing to resolve to get rid of its nukes.

Gates, meeting South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, did nothing to reassure Koreans by saying that diplomatic engagement should begin with talks between North and South Korea and six-party talks could resume only if North Korea showed it could be "productive" and "in good faith".

Gates' remarks came after fence-mending stops in China and Japan. In three days in China, he sought to reopen communications with military leaders upset by US arms sales to Taiwan. In Japan, he defended the need for the US to keep 49,000 troops in the country for defense against both North Korea and China, which he warned might "behave more assertively toward its neighbors" if US troops were withdrawn.

Incredibly, Gates may have gotten his messages across to the Chinese and Japanese more effectively than he did in South Korea. Defense Minister Kim, standing beside him, said pointedly "strong force is the only way to deal effectively" with the North - a view not echoed by Gates.

Former US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill, who negotiated with North Korea during the presidency of George W Bush, insisted, however, that getting the North to do away with its nuclear program remained the top priority. "We cannot walk away from that," Hill said. "We really do not have the option of leaving North Korea to have its nuclear weapons."

Hill, in a talk at the Asan Institute, defended the record of the six-party talks in getting North Korea to shut down the five-megawatt reactor but said the North Koreans "lied on their declaration" about uranium enrichment. "We need more than talks," he said. "The North Koreans have demonstrated they did not deal with the process seriously."

Korean officials are especially convinced North Korea has no notion of giving up its nuclear program in the run-up to the centennial of the birth on April 16, 1912, of Kim Il-sung, who died on July 8, 1994. Kim's son and heir, Kim Jong-il, suffering from a variety of ailments, is believed anxious to display the country's strength while preparing for his son, Kim Jong-eun, who turned either 28 or 29 on January 8, to succeed him.

"This year is an important time in resolving inter-Korean issues," President Lee was quoted as telling Gates. "I hope South Korea and the US will cooperate and do their best to settle the North Korea issue" - a phrasing that appeared to show less than full confidence in US solidarity on the issue.

Asia Times Online :: Korea News and Korean Business and Economy, Pyongyang News
 
I am surprised they havent taken over the North already..without the Chinese feedpipe the north is pretty much dead anyway!
 
comon South, what more you want us to do? Attack?

South should know that we wont talk or even attempt to talk to Crazy Nations like Iran and NK.


China is the key here...... wait and chill
 
Ca;mon get serious...for what???


SK is already enjoying better economy and living life style than NK....so let their leaders keep making noises.
 
South Korea is pathetic.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with the US. This is between South Korea and North Korea; a domestic issue.

SK really need to handle their own problem and tell the US to fcuk off.

Really now, who the fcuk cares what the US thinks?? Guess they still have the colony mentality where their politics are still determined by foreign countries.

SO, SO SAD!
 
SK can not handle the NK on its own. Everyone knows this.

China is the key here?
Yes but China will like the status quo to continue, because as long as US station its troops in SK, it will have control over SK and China can not accept that. Only when US troops withdraw from SK, then the Chinese will give NK back to SK.
 
Why doesn't SK get serious ? After all it was their island that was shelled and their naval ship that was sunk.

It is sad that they have become a stooge of the U.S. and lack the independence to take their own action.

They say jump you say how high.
 
china wont do much if US is involved but the border scenario is very complicated as north korean artillery there will heavily damage seoul.

will america's airpower be very crucial regarding the NK artillery position at the DMZ??what do the members think.
 
SK can not handle the NK on its own. Everyone knows this.

China is the key here?
Yes but China will like the status quo to continue, because as long as US station its troops in SK, it will have control over SK and China can not accept that. Only when US troops withdraw from SK, then the Chinese will give NK back to SK.

look at it this way. if NK and SK reunites, the U.S. would have no more business there. in fact, the U.S. would probably get kicked out of japan as well.

then again, i doubt china have so much control over NK's regime. i think china is also afraid to handle it cause who knows what the "dear leader" would do.
 
look at it this way. if NK and SK reunites, the U.S. would have no more business there. in fact, the U.S. would probably get kicked out of japan as well.

then again, i doubt china have so much control over NK's regime. i think china is also afraid to handle it cause who knows what the "dear leader" would do.

speaking in view of just NK and SK they are better off separate.
 
Believe me, most people here want nothing to do with SE Asia. Let Japan and South Korea take care of their own security. Why should we do it? It's not like SK and Japan are poor countries.
 
It's just tooooo hard to get serious with South Korea. It seems that they genuinely don't know their place in the world, which is a knock-off Japan without even the goodie goodie image of the latter.
 

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