Beyond the Two-track Approach toward North Korea

It is not unusual for North Korea again officially called for talks after a certain period of silence. When North Korea attacked Cheonan Navy Vessel, and poured shelling into Yeonpyong Island, South Koreans were angry enough to delink all the dialogue connections with North Korea. US diplomatic efforts to make this North Korea's dialogue overtures alive is going on. Mr. Bosworth and 'sung Kim, the US Envoies met in Beijing Chinese counterparts. Holding useful talks is a part of efforts to solve the deadlocked North Korean issues.

North Korea made a overture by the name of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland through the state-run Korean Central News Agency, which the South Koran government considered as insufficient to warrant an official reaction. North Korea's overtures are not interpreted in Seoul as the ones with North Korea's sincerity.

South Korean Unification Ministry rejected North's offer by the reason that North Korea did not sincerely apologize for the recent military provocations. South Koreans are suspicious of North Korea's sincerity, in part because this dialogue offer did not come through official channels. It is expected that South Korean government will again review the repeated proposal after closely checking the changed attitudes of North Korea, probably adopting the two-track strategy on North Korean proposals.

North Korea's repeated peace offensive as part of South Korean strategy is producing more and more schism within South Korea between the pro-North Korean group and hard-liners on the North Korean issue. One purpose of North Korea's dialogue tactic is being realized in South Korea. We have to bear in mind this tactic.

It is a big tragedy to recall the past bitter memories of North Korea's gloomy tactics functioning behind the unconditional talks proposal. North Korea has disconnected all connections of dialogue at the time of provocations toward South Korea. Talks between the South and North Korean Red Cross, a preliminary meeting for Gaeseong Industrial complex issues and resumption of Diamond Mountain tourism project, is not a process of substantive-peace-building, if North korean regime is not changed at all. North Korea would only utilize these dialogue table as a space for political propaganda.

Of course, dialogue has to be pursued even in the critical period of military war. Cold War structure in Northeast Asia calls for the need for more and more dialogue among the major actors such as South-North Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States. The very victims of the Cold-War formation right after the 1945, the time of the 2nd World War end, from the perspective of national division, could not give up the hope of overcoming national division by peaceful means and sincere dialogues.

This is the reason why South Korea simply can not ignore the North Korea's proposal. We have another reason not just to accept North Korea's overtures; without sincere apology of North Korea over the sinking of Cheonnan warship and its shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, we must be careful and prudent before our reaction to the offer through deep and detailed analysis on this North Korea's swift turning into dialogue mode.

Inter-Korean relations is not to be improved until North Korea sincerely apologizes and punish those who were in charge of the past two military aggressions. Dialogues just for dialogues could not bear any significant meaning for the inter-Korean relations.

For basic substantive changes on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea must be reborn into a normal democratic regime. Only then all the problems of the two Koreas will disappear. This clear logic can not be realized in such a short time span. This is the very agony and substance of the Korean question.

Knowing limits and dangers of North Korean strategies and tactics, it is also natural for South Korea to be engaged with the two-track policy on North; high-alerted military preparedness against North Korea and keeping the dialogue table open. Humanitarian dialogues of Red Cross must not be victimized for the North Korean political maneuvering, and also changed attitudes of North Korea must be a precondition for a matured and fruitful dialogue.

Our wish is that as a big brother of North Korea, China, would give positive signal to North Korea for a positive change. Out of the Sino-Washington Summit expected to be held in 19 Jan. 2011, a concrete agreement concerning North Korean nuclear and military provocations issue is to be produced beyond the limited framework of South Korea's two-track approach on North Korea.

By Dr. Tae-woo Park, is a Visiting Professor, Dept of Diplomacy, National Chengchi Univ., Republic of China; He serves as Honorary Consul of East Timor in Korea. He has also lectured major international issues at Korea Univ. and Kyunghee Univ. international divisions in English.