What's behind North Korea's offer for unconditional talks?
| Tokyo
US envoy Stephen Bosworth struck an enigmatic note here Friday on the chances for more talks with North Korea after both South Korea and Japan flatly rebuffed Pyongyang鈥檚 bid to return to the table without preconditions.
Mr. Bosworth ended a trip to major northeast Asia capitals with this carefully phrased remark: 鈥淲e are talking about and moving forward in our attempt to address the questions of the Korean Peninsula.鈥�
That comment, following talks at his final stop in Tokyo Friday, raised more questions than it answered. It comes after what some analysts see as a North Korean attempt at reconciliation and what others view as a well-timed North Korean effort to mislead diplomats and politicians about its intentions.
While Mr. Bosworth was in Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was in Washington meeting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He said that North Korea had to take 鈥渃oncrete actions鈥� before any resumption of six-party talks on the North鈥檚 nuclear program.
In Seoul, South Korea's vice unification minister Um Jong-sik found it 鈥渄ifficult鈥� to take seriously North Korea鈥檚 call for 鈥渦nconditional and early talks.鈥�
South Korean officials have characterized the North鈥檚 proposal as fitting the pattern of a regime that over the years has pursued a fight-then-talk strategy.
Until recently, North Korea has refused to return to six-party talks, which were last held in Beijing in December 2008. It shifted its position after international condemnation for the shelling in November of a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea, in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed.
鈥淣orth Korea hopes to fool the South Korean people by a tactical change,鈥� says Baek Seong-joo, director of the Center for Security and Strategy at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
Mr. Baek is convinced North Korea鈥檚 eagerness to return to the table may appeal to US policymakers. 鈥淭he US wants to resume six party talks,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey see a change in the diplomatic climate.鈥�
If North Korea鈥檚 position has made an impression on Bosworth, however, he avoided showing it during stops in Seoul, Beijing and finally Japan.
At the outset of his trip in Seoul, he repeated his oft-quoted position that there was no point 鈥渋n talks for the sake of talks鈥� but did not go beyond his brief formal comment in either Beijing or Tokyo.
What does North Korea want from talks?
China, as expected, has strongly supported North Korea鈥檚 call for talks, saying they offer hope for 鈥渟tability鈥� on the Korean Peninsula. Japanese leaders have been increasingly concerned by rising confrontation on the Korean Peninsula 鈥� a major reason why the Democratic Party of Japan has reversed its previously soft-line stance.
Analysts are puzzled, however, as to what North Korea expects from calling for talks 鈥� or, for that matter, is likely to gain even if talks resume.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 figure out Kim Jong-il鈥檚 real intention,鈥� says Bae Jong-yun, a politics professor at Yonsei University in Seoul. 鈥淗ow much time does he have to manage life in North Korea,鈥� he asks, raising the question of the North Korean leader鈥檚 failing health.
Mr. Bae says, however, North Korea鈥檚 need for aid may well be a motivating factor. 鈥淭hey need cash,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey need food.鈥�
As for Bosworth鈥檚 mission, he is not sure it had 鈥渕eaningful results.鈥�
North Korea, he says, 鈥渕ust show a certain credibility,鈥� including signs of serious willingness to give up its nuclear weapons. 鈥淎lways,鈥� he notes, 鈥渢here has been only lip service.鈥�
