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| Korea |
| Seoul accepts omission from trilateral talks |
| 2003-04-16 |
| South Korea has agreed on trilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear issue, even though it is excluded from them, in order to facilitate the launching of dialogue between the North and the United States, Seoul officials said yesterday. The officials confirmed that multilateral talks on the North's suspected nuclear program will start with a three-way forum among Pyongyang, Washington and Beijing, and that South Korea may join the envisaged talks later because the North insisted on the trilateral format. The South's decision, however, stirred controversy in the nation that Seoul will fail to play a major role in consultations concerning the nuclear issue, which directly affects the security of the South, if it fails to join the talks from the beginning. "We decided to accept trilateral talks because it is important to begin talks at an early date so that we can prevent an escalation of nuclear tension and find a breakthrough on the matter," a Foreign Ministry official said. South Korea had earlier preferred a six-party meeting among the two Koreas, the United States, Russia, China and Japan. But it retracted because its insistence on initial participation in multilateral talks would only delay the start of dialogue given the North's opposition, according to diplomatic sources. The ministry official said the government will actively seek to join multilateral talks once the forum is launched. Incoming South Korean Ambassador to Washington Han Sung-joo said yesterday that the United States does not care in what form such dialogue begins because multilateral talks are only a process, not a result. "Regardless of how many will initially participate, the dialogue framework will evolve into six-way talks and the talks will discuss a lot of issues," Han said during a meeting with South Korean reporters. Han said Washington believes South Korea and Japan can join multilateral talks when the issue of economic cooperation arises, and Russia may also be included for consultations on energy matters. Experts were divided on their evaluation of the South's acceptance of being initially left out in the dark. "I think South Korea agreed on the format for efficiently solving the nuclear issue because the South hopes for an early resolution of the nuclear crisis and can join the talks later," said Prof. Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University. Koh interpreted North Korea's insistence on three-way talks as stemming from its belief that the nuclear problem is an issue between Pyongyang and Washington, whereas China can mediate or act as guarantor as it was a main player in the armistice treaty, which ended the Korean War (1950-53). Some experts, however, criticized the South Korean decision as weakening the South's position on the nuclear issue, which directly affects the security of the South. "I am very disappointed that the South is excluded from multilateral talks. South Korea should have insisted on its initial participation even if this may delay the beginning of multilateral talks," said Paik Hak-soon, a senior researcher at the private Sejong Institute. "South Korea should be included because China, which is not a direct party to the nuclear issue, is participating. The South may only play a secondary role when it joins later," Paik said. |
| Posted by:Tadderly |
| #2 First the SKors bail out of some UN vote on NKor violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Agreement, and now this. Are they getting paid off somehow, or are they that scared of Kimmie? (Yeah, yeah, I know, it's because they don't have juche.....when are we gonna get some more rants from Army-based Man?) |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-04-16 21:36:07 |
| #1 That whole exercise will be Uncle Sam telling China to reign in it's agent provocatuer in exchange for us tossing a few bills towards SARS. Nkor didn't want Skor there to see the smack down. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-04-16 15:57:23 |