Seoul eager to test North’s hint

If North Korea was trying to get attention, it succeeded over the weekend in doing that ― more so than officials here, carefully choosing their words, were willing to acknowledge yesterday.
Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said that what was heard from Pyeongyang over the weekend was clearly positive progress and a step in the right direction for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem. That step was most likely the result of diplomatic efforts by the international community over the past few months, Mr. Yoon said, adding that these efforts would be intensified to encourage North Korea to come to dialogue as quickly as possible.
But Seoul officials, including the foreign minister, were cautious in their assessment of the comments by a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman. In a mock interview with the official Korean Central News Agency Saturday, the spokesman said that Pyeongyang would not be picky about the formality of dialogue, as long as the United States makes a dramatic change in its approach to the North. The interview proceeded to argue against multilateral talks as proposed by Washington, but it has been generally regarded as the first indication in the six-month standoff that Pyeongyang might be willing to talk.
Confirming in part the involvement of the Blue House in the diplomacy to bring North Korea around, the president’s chief of staff, Moon Hee-sang, yesterday said there has been more progress than has been disclosed, “although we are not at a stage yet to talk more about it.” The Blue House has steadfastly refused to confirm reports that the national-security adviser, Ra Jong-yil, met with senior North Korean officials in Beijing to establish a channel of communication just before President Roh Moo-hyun took office on Feb. 25.
Kim Won-wung, a lawmaker representing the People’s Party for Reform who actively supported Mr. Roh for president, said yesterday that he had been in North Korea recently, but he declined “for now” to comment on his discussions.
In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush was nearly giddy early yesterday in responding to questions about the development. “We are making good progress,” he said, and the effort to deal with the North Korean nuclear problem in a multinational forum “might be coming to fruition.” Asked whether Syria might become a new member of the “axis of evil” now that the Iraqi regime is gone, Mr. Bush was unable to stay on that subject, quickly returning to the progress he said was being made in North Korea. On making the Korean Peninsula nuclear weapons-free, he said, “I am very hopeful we’ll be able to achieve those interests diplomatically.”
Mr. Bush’s comments represented a sharp change of sentiment in Washington, where Vice President Dick Cheney was reported last week to have reiterated a hard-line position to the speaker of the South Korean National Assembly, Park Kwan-yong. There would be no discussions or rewards for North Korea until Pyeongyang completely dismantles its nuclear program, Mr. Cheney said, according to a visibly pessimistic Mr. Park.
The contrast showed that Washington is still flexible, Seoul officials said yesterday. That sentiment was reinforced by the U.S. ambassador to Korea, Thomas Hubbard, when he met yesterday with the Korean foreign minister, officials here said. There is an overall mood to refrain from raising too much expectation, they said.
Two weeks ago Mr. Yoon traveled to Washington for a visit ill received by a U.S. administration in its first week of war in Iraq. Mr. Yoon put forward a “road map” designed more to prevent the North Korean problem from deteriorating than to make a clear breakthrough.
The proposal involved an offer of some conciliatory measure by the international community, including the United States, a Foreign Ministry official said, in return for an expression of Pyeongyang’s willingness to come to dialogue. Asked whether the Saturday comment represented a substantial shift in the North’s position, the official said it was evidence of that.

by Kim Young-sae