S. Korea, U.S. urged to integrate policies on N. Korea

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States should take lessons
from their policy rifts in dealing with North Korea over the past several years
as the U.S. Democrats return to power, a prominent scholar said Monday.
Bruce Klingner, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, pointed out
the forthcoming Barack Obama administration and the South Korea's conservative
Lee Myung-bak government will face a task of coordinating its approach toward
North Korea.
"Seoul and Washington have often worked at cross-purposes by adopting
non-complementary and indeed contradictory policies," he said at a seminar held
in Seoul to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Korean
Studies.
The two previous liberal governments in South Korea pushed for the so-called
sunshine policy of engaging the communist nation, while the Bush administration
refused direct talks with Pyongyang until its first-ever nuclear test in October
2006.
The launch of the conservative government in South Korea helped narrow
differences with the U.S. in dealing with North Korea. But the return of the
Democrats has rekindled concerns about the harmony of the policy between Seoul
and Washington.
"The inability to closely integrate policies toward North Korea have strained the
bilateral relationship and hindered efforts to denuclearize North Korea,"
Klingner said. "A failure to integrate U.S. and South Korean policies in the
future could lead either to a need for sterner measures against Pyongyang or
acquiescing to a nuclear North Korea."
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)