SEOUL -- Now that U.S. President Bill Clinton has decided not to go to Pyongyang before his term expires, Colin Powell, U.S. secretary of state-designate in the new Bush administration, inherits the Korean problem. With it comes a golden opportunity to do something that has eluded statesmen for 50 years: to put in place a workable multilateral security framework for the Korean Peninsula, which has for too long been a loose cannon in Northeast Asia.

To resolve the uncertainty, peninsular and regional security must be meshed into a coherent whole so that neither Seoul nor Pyongyang, nor any neighbors, feel threatened. Powell, steeped in the formulation of national security policy for much of his career, has a considerable advantage in beginning the task of forging a new post-Cold War security framework for the Peninsula.

No one, including the North Korea leadership, can doubt Powell's credentials or credibility in crisis management. And a different tone in Washington's responses to rhetoric rather than action isn't necessarily a bad thing. Given the Iraqi precedent, there is no possibility that the North could mistake U.S. interests and policy objectives regarding the Korean Peninsula, specifically in the area of missile technology.