EDITORIAL: Talks with North Korea

In March last year, a South Korean warship was sunk by a North Korea-made torpedo. The incident left 46 sailors dead. In November, an artillery barrage by Pyongyang of a South Korean island left four dead.

South Korea faces a formidable task in trying to ease the acute tensions arising out of these attacks, which could have triggered a larger-scale military clash, and pursue talks with the North. That was underscored last week.

Preliminary talks between Seoul and Pyongyang on a proposed meeting between high-level military officials broke down. But there is clearly no way to sort out the current situation other than by patiently and tenaciously pursuing dialogue.

The process cannot start unless North Korea demonstrates a sincere commitment to this process. Naturally, the South Korean delegation demanded that the North take "responsible" action. South Korea wanted an apology and a guarantee that there would be no more attacks. The North Korean officials reportedly said that the blaming of Pyongyang for the sinking of the South Korean ship was a conspiracy. They also put the blame for the shelling of the island on South Korea.

After the preliminary talks collapsed, North Korea said it "felt no need to deal with (South Korea) any more." This attitude is simply destructive.

From the start of this year, North Korea has been pursuing a campaign ostensibly aimed at establishing dialogue with the South. Both the United States and China are calling for North-South dialogue. Pyongyang apparently wants to create diplomatic momentum toward bilateral talks with the United States and Japan, and also for six-party talks on the country's nuclear programs, by claiming an improvement in its relations with the South. It probably hopes to obtain food, energy and economic aid through these talks and therefore to help ensure a smooth power transition between its current leader, Kim Jong Il, and his third son, Kim Jong Un.

The dialogue has not gone as it had hoped. South Korea and the United States will conduct joint military drills in the near future. However, North Korea must not go back to its outrageous tactics of provocation. It must not resume missile and nuclear testing. Seoul and Pyongyang should make fresh efforts to resume talks, even if that requires a cooling-off period.

South Korea is in a terrible predicament. We need to put ourselves in its shoes. Even though it has been unilaterally attacked by its neighbor, South Korea cannot afford to take retaliatory action that might trigger an all-out war. As things stand now, Seoul cannot hope to get even a grudging apology from the North, let alone compensation for the damage inflicted by the attacks.

Nevertheless, South Korea must try to ease tension through dialogue. Stability in Northeast Asia depends, to a considerable extent, on South Korea's self-restraint.

Next year, South Korea will host the second Nuclear Security Summit. The first summit was held in Washington in April 2010 on the initiative of U.S. President Barack Obama. Along with the prevention of nuclear terrorism, stopping nuclear proliferation will be high on the agenda. North Korea's nuclear programs will undoubtedly be one focus of the meeting.

Last autumn, Pyongyang showed a visiting American nuclear scientist a vast new facility it had secretly built to enrich uranium. It was the first time it had disclosed the facility to the outside world. The regime claims the plant is for peaceful use as part of a nuclear power program. However, the facility could lead to the development of new nuclear arms.

It is simply unacceptable that North Korea should continue with its uranium enrichment program, which violates a United Nations Security Council resolution, without being subject to international monitoring. South Korea has an important role to play in solving this problem and in ensuring significant progress at the nuclear security summit. Japan and the United States need to provide support for South Korea's efforts to deal with the North's nuclear ambitions.

Japan, the United States and South Korea should ensure they are united on this issue, and also strengthen their cooperation with China and Russia, so that they can put collective pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 12