(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Dec. 12)

Slice the Gordian knot

The visit to Pyongyang by Stephen Bosworth, the special U.S. envoy for North
Korean policy, may not have been too bad.

Both the U.S. State Department and the North Korean Foreign Ministry said the two
sides had a common understanding on the need to resume the six-party talks and on
the importance of implementing the Sept. 19, 2005 joint statement. It???s
positive that North Korea, which once declared the six-party talks ???dead,???
has changed its stance. But it???s unfortunate that the North didn???t make clear
its intention to return to the table. Nevertheless, we can now hope for the
resumption of the six-party talks in the not-so-distant future following
additional consultations. Then the stalemate in the international community,
brought on by the North???s nuclear and missile tests, will end, giving way to
negotiations. We expect that efforts to accomplish the denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula and promote peace will be back on track.
Even if the six-party talks reconvene, we have a long way to go and numerous
things to do. Ahead of the bilateral talks in Pyongyang, the North had insisted
that there would be no denuclearization without resolving the peace issue between
itself and the U.S. ???Once we???ve been able to reconvene the six-party process
and have begun to gain significant traction on the issue of denuclearization, I
would expect that we???d all be prepared to discuss the evolution or the
negotiation of a peace regime of the Korean Peninsula,??? Bosworth said. There
are other issues to address at the six-party talks, including provision of
economic assistance and diplomatic relations between the North and Japan.
South Korea and the U.S. have said they would pursue a comprehensive package in
dealing with the nuclear issue in order to avoid repeating the
dialogue-stalemate-nuclear threat cycle. In other words, they want to handle
everything all at once. It???s a different approach from the past. The two
countries realize that compensating for every phase of denuclearization would not
be effective in preventing the North from pulling an about-face. We need the
willpower of Alexander the Great and the wisdom of King Solomon. We hope to see a
quick resumption of the six-party talks.
(END)