After its charm offensive at the Olympics, North Korea’s delegation has returned home from South Korea, leaving some questions behind. Chief among them: Can the new opening between the two Koreas, begun amid the feel-good spirit of the Winter Games, be nudged and nurtured into serious dialogue over North Korea’s nuclear program?
The New York Times reports in its article Is North Korea Causing Trouble or Giving Peace a Chance? that there’s a somewhat better chance of engagement now owing to two developments since President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Vice President Mike Pence, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and the North Korean delegation, including Kim Yo-jong, the only sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attended the Olympic opening ceremony.
First was Mr. Kim’s surprise decision to dispatch his sister, his most trusted envoy, to carry his personal invitation for Mr. Moon to join him in a summit meeting in the North. Mr. Moon and Ms. Kim met four times during the Olympics, the highest-level contact between the two Koreas in years. Mr. Moon’s visit would be an even rarer event, since the reclusive Mr. Kim has never met another foreign leader.
While many officials fear that North Korea’s primary goal is to drive a wedge between South Korea, which has been eager to engage the North, and the United States, which has resisted engagement, close coordination between Washington and Seoul would keep the alliance strong.
Mr. Pence did not shake hands with, or even smile at, Ms. Kim, as he sat in front of her at the opening ceremony. He could have at least stood when South Korean and North Korean athletes marched in together.
North Korea is a reprehensible regime and the world must never forget that. Still, leaders seeking solutions to major problems like North Korea’s nuclear program don’t have the luxury of picking their adversaries. Mr. Pence might have used the occasion to raise American concerns with Ms. Kim directly, although the South Koreans say she didn’t seem to want to speak with him, either.
All of which leaves unresolved the question of whether North Korea is exploiting South Korea’s desire for peace in order to secure economic or other benefits and break the alliance with the United States, or it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis and other disputed issues.
Neither does anyone know whether Mr. Trump, who has been effective at winning international support for tougher sanctions against North Korea, is serious about pursuing negotiations. Both are wild cards. Much will depend on how the North-South dialogue evolves.
But a special burden rests with North Korea, whose nuclear program violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and is a real threat. If Mr. Kim is serious about resolving the crisis, he could send an early signal by releasing the three Americans still held in North Korean prisons or announcing a pause in his nuclear and missiles testing, The New York Times believes.
