Seoul urged to pursue two

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Japan makes room for dialogue with N. KoreaBy Lee Hyo-jin

The South Korean government should pursue a dual-track approach with North Korea, local analysts said, stressing the need to combine openness for dialogue with strong deterrence.

They also viewed that the Yoon Suk Yeol administration should take into account that Japan seems to be making room for dialogue with North Korea despite strengthened security cooperation between Seoul, Tokyo and Washington against Pyongyang's growing nuclear threats.

The Japanese government had several informal engagements with North Korea earlier this year, according to Japanese media outlets, reporting last week that Japanese officials held secret talks with the North Korean side in March and May in a Southeast Asian country.

Addressing the media, Monday, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida refrained from commenting on the issue, but neither denied nor confirmed the reports. It is also notable that Kishida had renewed his desire for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a speech during the United Nations General Assembly in New York two weeks earlier.

"The Japanese leader has been calling for a summit with Kim without any preconditions, while forging stronger military ties with South Korea and the United States against North Korea," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies.

"We (South Korea) should also pursue a two-track approach similar to that of Japan and carry out a more balanced strategy to resolve North Korea's nuclear threats."

Nevertheless, Yang viewed that it is highly unlikely for the talks between Japan and North Korea to make tangible progress.

"What Japan wants from North Korea is to resolve the abductee issue, but North Korea does not want to talk about that," he said.

The Kishida administration has been demanding that the Kim regime resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, but negotiations have stalled as the North continues to insist the abduction issue was resolved when it permitted five Japanese nationals to leave the country in 2002.

Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, echoed the sentiment, saying, "I don't expect them to hold discussions on a formal level any time soon because the two sides do not seem to have a common agenda on the table."

However, that does not mean that such diplomatic efforts taken by Japan are meaningless, Park added.

"Since taking office, the Yoon administration has been sticking to its hardline stance on North Korea, leaving few chances for dialogue. Of course, the current situation, in which Pyongyang is blatantly advancing its nuclear capabilities, is not an easy environment for talks, but I think it's time for the government to implement its 'Audacious Initiative' plan in earnest."

Last year, the government unveiled its so-called "Audacious Initiative" for Pyongyang, which promises the North Korean government an unprecedented level of economic support in exchange for the country giving up its nuclear weapons.

The government also said it will adhere to the so-called 3Ds policy: deterrence, dissuasion ― of nuclear development through sanctions and pressure ― and dialogue.

Park said, "All I can see from the current measures is deterrence. Even the Ministry of Unification, whose task it is to coordinate inter-Korean dialogue, is also taking a 'deterrence-only' approach."

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