SEOUL -- The recent shakeup in Seoul's foreign policy and security team in the aftermath of the Washington summit represents a double effort to patch up relations with the United States, while persuading North Korea to come back to the bargaining table. Both tasks require supreme diplomatic skill.
The appointment of Han Seung Soo as the new foreign minister highlights President Kim Dae Jung's desire to get back into Washington's good graces, after a pointless spat over national missile defense. Both Russia and the U.S. put Seoul on the spot and, by trying to please each with the right spin on NMD, wound up displeasing both. But because Seoul was never enthralled with the project -- South Korea had long been threatened by North Korean artillery and short range missiles -- it badly underestimated Washington's attachment to it. Han's main job will be to repair the damage and regain Washington's trust.
For the latter task, returning Lim Dong Won to his Unification Ministry post gives the main responsible for fleshing out Kim's vision the opportunity to complete the summit scenario sketched out at Pyongyang -- the return visit of North Korean leader Chairman Kim Jong Il to Seoul. He must convince the Kim that the two men have an overriding interest in a second summit as successful as the first to keep inter-Korean rapprochement going forward. The problem, however, is that the chairman -- who is due in Moscow in mid-April -- may have his own agenda.