DATE=7/28/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA EMERGENCE
NUMBER=5-46749
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Since North and South Korea promised to end a
half century of Cold War hostility during last month's
historic summit in Pyongyang, the communist North has
begun to emerge from decades of isolation. On
Thursday, the country made its boldest move yet toward
international recognition by joining the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum.
V-O-A's Alisha Ryu looks at the some of the possible
reasons behind the North's unprecedented diplomatic
outreach.
TEXT: Marking its first appearance at a regional
forum of Southeast Asian nations in Bangkok, North
Korea wasted no time in affirming new cooperation with
South Korea and agreeing to renew normalization talks
with Japan. It accepted diplomatic recognition from
Canada and New Zealand. And on Friday, North Korean
Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun met U-S Secretary
Madeleine Albright in the highest-level talks between
the two countries in more than 50 years.
/// ALBRIGHT ACT ///
If anybody had told me that I would be shaking
hands with the foreign minister of the D-P-R-K
(North Korea) today, I would have been very
surprised and so I look forward to this
relationship moving forward on a considered and
careful step-by-step basis.
/// END ACT ///
North Korea's whirlwind diplomacy follows the landmark
mid-June summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong
Il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
North Korean expert Yasuhiko Yoshida at Sitama
University in Japan says the success of that summit
appears to have convinced Pyongyang that gaining
international acceptance quickly was the only way to
open high-level talks with Washington on lifting
sanctions that has crippled its economy.
/// YOSHIDA ACT ONE ///
For the past 10 years, Pyongyang has been trying
to win concessions from Washington. Russia and
China have closer relations with Seoul, and
Pyongyang found itself quite weak militarily and
strategically. Pyongyang's target is to sign a
peace treaty with the United States and to win
total removal of all sanctions.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Yoshida says any international gains North Korea
makes now must be seen in the context of the many
setbacks in the past that have come to define the
communist country's relations with the West and its
allies.
In the early 1990s, for example, the North tried to
engage South Korea and Japan in direct talks to reduce
tensions stemming from the North's nuclear and missile
program. But even modest agreements signed with Seoul
at the time were never implemented, and talks with
Tokyo stalled on several issues, including the weapons
development question.
Since 1994, several rounds of nuclear and arms control
talks with the United States have also been largely
fruitless, with each side accusing the other of
reneging on promises made in the so-called "agreed
framework" accord signed in Geneva, Switzerland, six
years ago.
The United States says North Korea has not kept its
promise to stop producing missiles and weapons of mass
destruction. North Korea says Washington has not
lived up to its promise to lift all sanctions and
extend diplomatic recognition.
Mr. Yoshida predicts North Korean overtures to win
international support will have little impact if
Pyongyang does not halt its weapons program once and
for all. And there is little chance that will happen,
he says, without a peace treaty with Washington.
/// YOSHIDA ACT TWO ///
Until Washington comes to sign a peace treaty
and together with a total lifting of economic
and other sanctions against Pyongyang, they will
keep their missiles in their hands as a
bargaining chip. Otherwise, they have no card
to play with Washington and they will lose
everything in future deals.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Yoshida says without Washington's full backing, it
is unlikely North Korea will receive a warm welcome
from the United States' most important ally in Asia,
Japan.
Tokyo has not rushed to mend ties with North Korea, in
part because of demands by Pyongyang for an apology
and huge reparations for Japan's colonial occupation
of Korea. But the two countries are scheduled to
restart talks on normalizing relations in late August.
(Signed)
NEB/HK/AR/JO/JP
28-Jul-2000 08:34 AM LOC (28-Jul-2000 1234 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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