ID :
31252
Thu, 11/20/2008 - 10:46
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/31252
The shortlink copeid
Scholar opposes Obama meeting Kim Jong-il
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- A prominent North Korea expert here Wednesday was skeptical about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on the North's nuclear ambitions.
Victor Cha, professor at Georgetown University, instead urged Obama to appoint a
senior White House official to lead the six-party talks so he or she could
directly face a higher-ranking member of the North's National Defense Commission,
which is empowered by constitution to control the military as well as economic
and other domestic affairs.
"The White House carries undeniable cache for the North. Because this individual
-- with the rank of a NSC senior director and special assistant to the president
-- would report directly to the national security adviser, Pyongyang would have
to bring forth members of its National Defense Commission and other key agencies
to negotiate in earnest for a final solution," Cha said in a contribution to
Yonhap News Agency. "Otherwise, the same Foreign Ministry officials from
Pyongyang will show up at six-party talks to stall and slow-roll the
negotiations."
Critics say the six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan
and Russia, have effectively served as the venue for North Korea to buy time on
its way toward becoming a nuclear weapons state since the detonation of its first
nuclear device in 2006.
Cha, former director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council under the
Bush administration, said any Obama-Kim meeting should be considered only "after
the denuclearization process is near completion."
"Hard-liners in Pyongyang will view the new Obama presidency as weak,
inexperienced and completely overwhelmed by two wars and a financial meltdown,"
he said. "To offer a presidential meeting amidst this mess would not only look
amateurish, it would confirm the hard-liners' views of American weakness and
inexperience."
He was referring to two major wars the U.S. is facing in Iraq and Afghanistan and
the current global financial crisis initiated by the subprime mortgage crisis in
the U.S.
The outgoing Bush administration has been under fire for delisting North Korea as
a state sponsor of terrorism last month despite Pyongyang's failure to allow
access to its undeclared nuclear sites. Critics say Bush is trying to make North
Korea a major foreign policy achievement amid worsening situations in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Iran.
Cha proposed that focus be put on bringing to the six-party nuclear talks
high-ranking North Koreans "who can make real decisions."
"In the course of six-party talks, when the North Koreans were slow to make
decisions, we challenged them to bring people from the Dear Leader's office or
from their National Defense Commission to their delegation who could make quicker
decisions, pointing to our own interagency team of State, White House and
Pentagon," said Cha, former deputy head of U.S. delegation to the talks. "They
responded that such individuals were too high-ranking."
"If we want to move the denuclearization process more quickly, we need to reach
higher into the Pyongyang leadership beyond the Foreign Ministry officials it has
been trotting out for the last 16 years," he said.
Obama has pledged that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il without
any conditions attached, dismissing criticism that it is naive and saying Bush's
reluctance to deal directly with North Korea resulted in the North's nuclear
armament during Bush's eight-year presidency.
"Obama and Biden will pursue tough, direct diplomacy without preconditions with
all nations, friend and foes," said the Obama-Biden plan posted on the Web site
of the U.S. presidential transition team. "They will do the careful preparation
necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table and is
willing to lead."
Obama will likely send a prominent figure as his special envoy to Pyongyang soon
after his inauguration on Jan. 20 to prepare for a possible visit there himself
to make a breakthrough in the on-and-off multilateral nuclear talks that began in
2003, according to some reports and analysts.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Sunday supported an Obama meeting with Kim
to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions, saying, "It would be
better for President-elect Obama to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-il personally if
it is helpful to North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear weapons."
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- A prominent North Korea expert here Wednesday was skeptical about U.S. President-elect Barack Obama meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on the North's nuclear ambitions.
Victor Cha, professor at Georgetown University, instead urged Obama to appoint a
senior White House official to lead the six-party talks so he or she could
directly face a higher-ranking member of the North's National Defense Commission,
which is empowered by constitution to control the military as well as economic
and other domestic affairs.
"The White House carries undeniable cache for the North. Because this individual
-- with the rank of a NSC senior director and special assistant to the president
-- would report directly to the national security adviser, Pyongyang would have
to bring forth members of its National Defense Commission and other key agencies
to negotiate in earnest for a final solution," Cha said in a contribution to
Yonhap News Agency. "Otherwise, the same Foreign Ministry officials from
Pyongyang will show up at six-party talks to stall and slow-roll the
negotiations."
Critics say the six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan
and Russia, have effectively served as the venue for North Korea to buy time on
its way toward becoming a nuclear weapons state since the detonation of its first
nuclear device in 2006.
Cha, former director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council under the
Bush administration, said any Obama-Kim meeting should be considered only "after
the denuclearization process is near completion."
"Hard-liners in Pyongyang will view the new Obama presidency as weak,
inexperienced and completely overwhelmed by two wars and a financial meltdown,"
he said. "To offer a presidential meeting amidst this mess would not only look
amateurish, it would confirm the hard-liners' views of American weakness and
inexperience."
He was referring to two major wars the U.S. is facing in Iraq and Afghanistan and
the current global financial crisis initiated by the subprime mortgage crisis in
the U.S.
The outgoing Bush administration has been under fire for delisting North Korea as
a state sponsor of terrorism last month despite Pyongyang's failure to allow
access to its undeclared nuclear sites. Critics say Bush is trying to make North
Korea a major foreign policy achievement amid worsening situations in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Iran.
Cha proposed that focus be put on bringing to the six-party nuclear talks
high-ranking North Koreans "who can make real decisions."
"In the course of six-party talks, when the North Koreans were slow to make
decisions, we challenged them to bring people from the Dear Leader's office or
from their National Defense Commission to their delegation who could make quicker
decisions, pointing to our own interagency team of State, White House and
Pentagon," said Cha, former deputy head of U.S. delegation to the talks. "They
responded that such individuals were too high-ranking."
"If we want to move the denuclearization process more quickly, we need to reach
higher into the Pyongyang leadership beyond the Foreign Ministry officials it has
been trotting out for the last 16 years," he said.
Obama has pledged that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il without
any conditions attached, dismissing criticism that it is naive and saying Bush's
reluctance to deal directly with North Korea resulted in the North's nuclear
armament during Bush's eight-year presidency.
"Obama and Biden will pursue tough, direct diplomacy without preconditions with
all nations, friend and foes," said the Obama-Biden plan posted on the Web site
of the U.S. presidential transition team. "They will do the careful preparation
necessary, but will signal that America is ready to come to the table and is
willing to lead."
Obama will likely send a prominent figure as his special envoy to Pyongyang soon
after his inauguration on Jan. 20 to prepare for a possible visit there himself
to make a breakthrough in the on-and-off multilateral nuclear talks that began in
2003, according to some reports and analysts.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Sunday supported an Obama meeting with Kim
to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions, saying, "It would be
better for President-elect Obama to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-il personally if
it is helpful to North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear weapons."
