(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on July 27)

North must adjust strategy

North Korea has made a sudden decision to resume talks with the United States.
The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations clarified the country???s
objection to the resumption of the six-party talks and showed a willingness to
hold bilateral talks with the United States.
The U.S. has not officially refused direct dialogue with the North within the
six-party framework. As it is widely known, the two nations talked behind the
scenes about the possible release of two female American journalists detained in
the North, so the time for open talks is ripe.
The North???s intentions can be understood in several ways. It is looking to
prevent the full-fledged initialization of United Nations sanctions. It hopes
that by doing so, it can mitigate its food and economic crisis and achieve its
long-cherished goal of acquiring the status of a nuclear state. However, this is
all in vain.
Recently, the Americans indicated that the existing negotiation patterns with the
North will no longer be repeated.
The U.S. has in the past accepted the North???s suggestions and has adopted a
phased manner of resolving nuclear problems in a ???word for word??? or ???deed
for deed??? way.
But that failed to prevent the North from breaking promises and reprocessing
plutonium and conducting nuclear tests.
Therefore, the U.S. government is firmly committed to engaging in negotiations
with the North in a resolvable and irrevocable manner. This is the core part of
the comprehensive package.
North Korea should clarify its intention to discard nuclear arms as well as its
willingness to hold talks. It should stop insisting that it should have nuclear
weapons to protect itself from the U.S. Otherwise, negotiations with the U.S.
won???t yield positive results.
Essentially, the country should have a firm commitment to overhaul its
old-fashioned institution, which is highly dependent on the extreme suppression
of human rights and based on a national isolation policy. It should build a more
open and modern social institution. Otherwise, the North will hold on to its
belief that every foreign country is an enemy.
Pyongyang should be ready for true dialogue. It should be prepared to abandon
nuclear arms and reform its social institution to promote a peaceful exchange
with other countries. Then and only then will the international community,
including the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, help North Korea
overcome its difficulties.
The U.S. indicated it would offer a comprehensive package covering a variety of
aid measures that North Korea may be ???attracted??? to. However, true dialogue
is the only way for North Korea to survive.
(END)