NY Conference on Peace & Cooperation in NE Asia

The Conference on Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia was held during March 7-9, 2012 at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, New York City. This historic event was co-sponsored by: Freidrigh-Ebert-Stiftung, Maxwell School of Syracuse University, National Association of Korean Americans, Center for Peace and Public Integrity at Hanshin University, Pacific Century Institute.

This was a Track II meeting on peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia, with focus on peace and security in the Korean Peninsula, with participants (former and current government ministers and officials, academics, representatives of political parties and civil society organizations) from the six-party talks nations, plus Mongolia and Germany. It concluded with the reaffirmation by all participants for the pursuit of the peace process in the Korean Peninsula that would lead to comprehensive peace and security, and multilateral cooperation in the Northeast Asia region. Notable at this conference was candor in interactions between participants from North Korea and the U.S., inclusion of Mongolia in the regional dialogue, and comparative perspectives of the European security mechanisms and the German reunification experience.

Statement on the US-DPRK Bilateral Talks Results

A Statement from NAKA

The results from the third exploratory round of U.S.-DPRK bilateral talks in Beijing announced today show a sign of improvement and progress towards a peaceful settlement in the Korean Peninsula, as "to improve the atmosphere for dialogue and demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization, the DPRK has agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches, nuclear tests and nuclear activities at Yongbyon, including uranium enrichment activities" and the U.S. has "agreed to meet with the DPRK to finalize administrative details necessary to move forward with [the] proposed package of 240,000 metric tons of nutritional assistance along with the intensive monitoring required for the delivery of such assistance."

Furthermore, we welcome the following points that came out of the discussions:

The United States reaffirms that it does not have hostile intent toward the DPRK and is prepared to take steps to improve bilateral relationship in the spirit of mutual respect for sovereignty and equality.

The United States reaffirms its commitment to the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement.

The United States recognizes the 1953 Armistice Agreement as the cornerstone of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The United States is prepared to take steps to increase people-to-people exchanges, including in the areas of culture, education, and sports.

U.S. sanctions against the DPRK are not targeted against the livelihood of the DPRK people.


The National Association of Korean Americans (NAKA) welcomes this development and urges both parties to implement these measures in earnest, concurrent with other mutual efforts to improve relations and work towards a comprehensive peace settlement in the Korean Peninsula.
February 29, 2012
Washington, DC
The National Association of Korean Americans (NAKA)
www.naka.org

"Invite North Korea to the Global Nuclear Security Summit"

From Foreign Policy in Focus. By Jae Jung Suh, an associate professor and director of Korean Studies at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into waters near the disputed western sea border with the South last week, and the South Korean military returned warning shots, heightening the already high tension on the peninsula. The rising tension came amidst recent signals from Pyongyang that it wanted to negotiate a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. If peace negotiations began, Pyongyang could return to the Six Party Talks on ending its nuclear programs. So what's going on? Are we about to see another bout of military confrontation or another round of negotiations? MORE

[The satellite photo shows the exhaust trail of a North Korean rocket launch on April 5, 2009.]

Thawing of US-NK Relations Put On Hold

Followup to KR posting, Thawing of US-NK Relations -- Will It Stick This Time?

Again, the road to US-NK normalization bumps into another hurdle. North Korea is said to have started restoring its nuclear facilities after it stopped disabling them (the photo shows the previous disablement process at the Yongbyun nuclear facility), accusing the US of failing to lift NK from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, as stated on the six-party agreement. Washington wants a verification protocol in place before this to happen.

So, North Korea's nuclear disarmament issue is likely to surface high on foreign policy debates of the 2008 presidential election in the US.

Thawing of US-NK Relations -- Will It Stick This Time?

Ironically, it turns out that George W. Bush --who labelled North Korea as an "axis of evil"-- is the US president to lift the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act on North Korea that has been in place since the Korean War. This symbolic gesture, coupled with the intent to rescind North Korea's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, paves a way towards Washington's normalization of relations with Pyongyang as outlined in the six-party agreement on nuclear disarmament and normailization of relations in Northeast Asia. (see the State Department release)

The US action follows Pyongyang's more detailed declaration of its nuclear program. North Korea even blew up the cooling tower at the Yongbyun nuclear facility to showcase its commitment to the disablement process of its nuclear facilities.

In another development that foreshadows the thawing of tensions, a US cargo ship docked in Nampo, a North Korean port (photo), to unload 37,000 tons of wheat, as a part of the UN World Food Program that aims to alleviate famine in North Korea. North Koreans will see more of US food aid as the US will contribute the bulk of the World Food Program this year, and as food aid from South Korea is curtailed due to souring in inter-Korean relations. In a departure from past practices, North Korea has opened up for more monitoring of food distribution by foreign observers.

These are good signs and there is a room for optimism that the long-overdue settlement of nuclear disarmament/normalization of relations will finally come to be realized.

A Breakthrough in the Nuclear Disarmament Impasse?

The Panmunjeom (the inter-Korea border village area at the Demiliarized Zone) -- a long symbol of Cold War face-off -- is seeing unusal sights these days.

In this photo, Sung Kim (a Korean-American who heads the Office of Korean Affairs at the US State Department) and his group are hand-carrying boxes containing 18,000 pages of documents detailing activities at North Korea's Yongbyun nuclear reactor, and are crossing the border (the raised concrete slab) casually, and welcomed by US military officer stationed in South Korea.

The documents, detailing North Korea's plutonium program, may hold the key to a breakthrough in the impasse in the implementation of the six-nation agreement on nuclear disarmament and normalization of relations. (Initial analysis of the documents is postive.) Or more precisely, it may lead to improved North Korea-US relations, as it appears that Washington is most aggressively trying to seek a resolution to this impasse. [See also The Right Path With N. Korea by Siegfried S. Hecker and William J. Perry in today's The Washington Post.]

N. Korea, U.S. to Set Up Liaison Offices in Capitals

Followup to KR posting, US Diplomats Check In at Hotel Koryo in Pyongyang

Despite recent setbacks, the six-nation process on nuclear disarmament and normalization of relations seems to be back on track, as the six party conference will resume later in May. Moreover, once North Korea presents a declaration acceptable to the U.S. and delivers data on its past nuclear activities, it will likely lead to Washington taking steps to remove North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring states.

This would mark the end of phase two in the three-stage denuclearization process and the start of phase three, in which North Korea would actually dismantle its nuclear program (dismantlement process at the Yongbyun nuclear plant is going on already) in return for additional economic aid and political incentives, as stipulated in the previous six-nation agreements. In the process, North Korea and the U.S. will likly operate sort of liaison offices in each other's capitals, which may serve as a step towards the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two sides.

Indeed, American officials in Pyongyang may open up a permanent office, most likely at the Koryo Hotel (pictured). Will North Koreans shop for office space in Washington, DC soon? The Lee Myung-bak administration of South Korea has proposed inter-Korea liaison offices, but this fell flat due to resumption of acrimonious relations between the two sides of Korea as the result of Lee's vocal repudiation of rapproachement policies of previous two South Korean administrations.

Washington Reverts to Hardline on North Korea

As the State Department officials tried to salvage the six-party process on nuclear disarmament/normalization of relations, the White House announced the alleged North Korea-Syria nuclear connection [photo: the site in Syria that was bombed by Israel]. Will this development escalate into another crisis like the "BDA" case (the dispute over North Korean funds at the Banco delta Asia in China that had previously stalled the six-party process) and threaten to derail the six-party process?

The timing and motive of the announcement perplexed many observers. See for example, The Seattle Times editorial, "North Korea policy sharpens the knives": "Confused by the belated revelations over North Korean help with a Syrian reactor of some sort? The best way to understand the method if not the substance is to think back to late December and the Iran saga." More

"USSTRATCOM is the main threat to peace in the Korean Peninsula"

By Ko Young-dae (right, in the photo), co-representative of South Korea-based Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea, in Global Network's Space Conference held in Omaha, Nebraska on April 12, 2008

After the September 11 incident, by the Bush administration's decision, the USSTRATCOM (US Strategic Command) began to develop a close relationship with the Korean Peninsula. On December 31, 2001, Bush submitted the Nuclear Posture Review, which defined Russia, China, and the so-called "rogue states"―North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya―as potential targets of pre-emptive nuclear strikes. Moreover, North Korea and Iraq, unlike the other three nations, were singled out as "chronic military concerns." Since Iraq is under US occupation, only North Korea remains as a "chronic military concern." Moreover, based on the NPR, the Bush administration has formulated a nuclear war strategy plan with North Korea and Iran as the main targets, thereby making the Korean Peninsula the most dangerous region in the world, with the US nuclear weapons playing a part in military strategy. More

Report and Photos of Yongbyun Nuclear Disablement Process

See Stanford University's coverage of Prof. Siegfried Hecker's Feb. 2008 trip to North Korea, with photographs of the disablement process at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which is a part of the six-party efforts at nuclear disarmament and normalization of relations. The trip, which was accompanied by a State Department official and a Congressional staffer, also involved discussions on formalizing health and educational exchanges between the two nations, suggesting opportunities for additional bilateral efforts beyond the nuclear disarmament issue.

"U.S. Senators' Aides in N. Korea Amid Nuclear Impasse"

Followup to KR posting, Concrete Steps Toward Nuclear Disarmament in North Korea

In addition to several visits to North Korea by the staff of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, now the staff of the Armed Services Committee are in North Korea. This visit is remarkable in that the discussions may expand beyond the nuclear issue to broader regional security issues. The visit follows a Pyongyang visit last month by Keith Luse, a staffer for Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

US and North Korea Try to Resolve Impasse in Six-Party Process

While Washington and Pyongyang try to hammer out a breakthrough from the latest snag in the implementation of the six-party nuclear disarment/normalization process in Geneva, the allegation of an uranium enrichment program in North Korea is on the spotlight, but the following report suggests a room for doubt:

"In a little-noticed speech at Amherst College on Jan. 30, [chief US negotiator Christopher] Hill [photo] said that U.S. officials had largely concluded that thousands of aluminum tubes acquired by North Korea in 2002 -- which sparked the intelligence finding that Pyongyang was building a large-scale uranium-enrichment program -- were not currently being used to create fissile material."

Deja vu of Geneva 1994?

A deja vu of Geneva 1994? Former president George H.W. Bush's possible visit to Pyongyang (as former president Jimmy Carter did in 1994)? US and North Korean negotiators meeting to resolve contentious issues in Geneva, where the Agreed Framework was formulated in 1994 in response to the first crisis over nuclear and security issues? Moreover, is President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea reversing his initial hardline attitudes towards North Korea by offering more dialog with North Korea? Hopefully a satisfactory resolution will come out from all these developments.

News item #1: Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush [photo] arrived in South Korea Tuesday at the invitation of a South Korean company, amid reports that he may also travel to North Korea to help his son make a breakthrough in the stalled nuclear talks.

News item #2: The chief U.S. and North Korean nuclear negotiators will meet this week in Geneva to seek a breakthrough in stalled disarmament talks ... U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill will meet on Thursday with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan.

News item #3: President Lee Myung-bak proposed shuttle diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Tuesday expressing the hope that the leaders of the two Koreas will meet frequently whenever possible. He also clarified his pragmatic policy directions Tuesday, stressing that the national interest should precede the alliance in Korea's relations with the United States.

"U.S. relations with North Korea possible"

Followup to KR posting, North Korea and the US Engage in Cultural Exchanges

Now that Americans and North Koreans have played music together in Pyongyang (photo, NY Philharmonic's Lorin Maazel conducting North Korean orchestra), can the diplomats use the momentum to push forward the promised normalization process? Despite the current snag in the final implementation of the six-party process on nuclear disarmament, aid and exchanges, and normalization of relations (US-DPRK and Japan-DPRK), there seems optimism.

In addition to the unprecedented visit of more than 300 American visitors to North Korea during the NY Philharmonic's concert in Pyongyang (the largest number of Americans to set foot on North Korea since the Korean War), five U.S. government employees are stationed semi-permanently in North Korea to monitor the disablement process in the Yongbyun nuclear plant. Moreover, American scientists and Congressional staffers are frequenting North Korea to see if the Nunn-Lugar nuclear disarmament program can work in North Korea, that is, the training of North Korean nuclear scientists and technicians for conversion into other civilian industries. In addition to visits to North Korea by staff members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a visit by the Armed Services Committee staff members is in the works to assess potentials for regional security and peace mechanisms. All these flurry of diplomatic and civilian activities and exchanges shows a promise of resolution of the crisis.

Optimism on Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy

Followup to KR posting, "Ex-U.S. Officials Orchestrate Korea Nuclear Diplomacy"

Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg and Evans Revere (the two are pictured at the concert with Gregg at far left and Revere next to him, William Perry is at far right), former US diplomat and now the president of the New York-based Korea Society (which helped in organizing the event), who accompanied the NY Philharmonic to Pyongyang, say that the event may have created the right atmosphere for a breakthrough on stalled nuclear weapons diplomacy.

Gregg and Revere had opportunity to talk with senior North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Kwan, as did the CNN's star journalist Christiane Amanpour, who had a rare opportunity to tour and film the DPRK's foreign ministry and the controversial Yongbyun nuclear facility.

"Ex-U.S. Officials Orchestrate Korea Nuclear Diplomacy"

Former CIA officer and U.S. ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg (pictured inside the captured USS Pueblo in his previous trip to Pyongyang), along with former defense secretary William Perry and former deputy assistant secretary of state Evans Revere (current president of the NY-based Korea Society), will be attending the Feb. 26 concert by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Pyongyang, and are said to use the occasion to urge North Korean officials to move forward quickly on the six-nation denuclearization agreement.

Gregg has been a supporter of engagement policy towards North Korea and Perry was in the office during the previous crisis over nuclear issue. Though these citizen diplomacy may help, some commentators are saying that a visit by the Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice may break the impasse. See previous KR posting: A Letter That Made Headlines: Bush Sends Letter to Kim

"Hardliners Target Détente with North Korea"

Here is a comprehensive analysis of the current status (or limbo) of the US-DPRK relations by Suzy Kim and John Feffer, in Foreign Policy in Focus, highlighting the Bush administration's North Korea policy reversal from confrontation to engagement, the resurgences of hardliners in the US, Japan and South Korea that try to undermine the six nations' attempts at negotiated settlement on nuclear disarmament, the "Syria connection," and the debate over the human rights issue.

"The Bush administration’s approach to North Korea was once quite consistent with its overall foreign policy. There was name-calling, a preference for regime change, and an emphasis on military solutions. Not surprisingly, then, the relationship between the United States and North Korea, like so many other tense stand-offs, deteriorated over the last seven years. The United States accused the third member of the 'axis of evil' of money-laundering, missile sales, and a secret program for the production of nuclear material. For its part, North Korea responded tit for tat at the rhetorical level. And, in October 2006, it upped the ante by exploding a nuclear device. If the United States were not tied up in other military conflicts, and eyeing Iran to boot, a war in Northeast Asia might have been higher on the administration’s to-do list." See the whole text.

"N. Korea hasn't gotten promised oil, U.S. official says"

"North Korea has slowed the dismantling of its nuclear reactor because it hasn't received the amount of fuel oil it was promised, State Department envoy Christopher Hill said Wednesday.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hill [pictured]confirmed that North Korea's delay in dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear plant was in response to what it perceives as slow delivery of the oil...

'There is a perception among the North Koreans that they have moved faster on disablement than we have on fuel oil,' said Hill... North Korea, he said, has received about 20 percent of the 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil that it was promised in exchange for disabling the reactor. The shipments were to move in tandem with the disabling of the plant." More news

When the media covers the recent snag in the six-party process of nuclear disarmement in North Korea, the usual focus is on North Korea missing the Dec. 31 deadline of the declaration of its nuclear programs, but another dimension to the controversy is revealed here. The ongoing dispute between Washington and Pyongyang seems to stem from the two sides' subjective interpretation of the clause 5 of Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks (Beijing, September 19, 2005): "The Six Parties agreed to take coordinated steps to implement the afore-mentioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of 'commitment for commitment, action for action.'"

Followup to KR posting: Another Stumbling Block Surfaces Over Nuclear Disarmament/Security Guarantees

Another Stumbling Block Surfaces Over Nuclear Disarmament/Security Guarantees

The promised multilateral settlement on North Korea's nuclear and security issues began on a wrong foot as soon as the new year started, with conflicting reports on the extent of North Korea's reporting of its nuclear activities. See news item.

Although a technical delay in the implementation of the six-nation Oct. 3, 2007 agreement on nuclear disarmament was expected and is tolerated by the parties involved, this latest controversy has the potential to derail the multilateral peacemaking process. Given the high stakes, all parties should review their respective obligations under the Oct. 2007 agreement and refrain from reverting back to brinkmanship actions and counter-actions. Existing platforms such as the six-nation meeting (pictured) and active diplomacy should be used to resolve this issue. See an analysis on this issue, which was made just prior to the Dec. 31 deadline of North Korea's nuclear report.

US Diplomat Christopher Hill in Pyongyang

A picture worth thousand words? Do big smiles on the diplomats of the US and DPRK reflect warming of relations between the two countries which have failed to reconcile their Cold War animosities and have not normalized relations for nearly six decades?

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (pictured at the Pyongyang airport on his arrival with a North Korean diplomat) is in Pyongyang and has toured the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, as a part of ongoing work to disable the plutonium-producing reactor being conducted under a six-nation agreement on North Korean nuclear diarmament and concurrent normalization of US-NK relations. The details of the agreement are being actualized according to the schedule. We will know by end of December if the agreement will hold water for a true settlement of contending issues.

On another related development, contradicting current US posture towards Iran, US intelligence report suggests that Iran is not currently trying to develop nuclear weapons. Will we see similar assessment on North Korea's alleged highly-enriched uranium program, or clear explanation by North Korea?