SEOUL -- One of the Europeans' first concerns after their successful diplomatic mission to Pyongyang and Seoul was to dispatch emissaries to Tokyo and Washington to inform the main allies about the results of the visit. On more than one occasion, the EU delegation emphasized that what it was doing was closely coordinated with the U.S. government's activities. "We will not replace the United States. It is not possible," stressed Swedish Prime Minister and current head of the European Union Goran Persson. The aim of the unprecedented mission (the highest-level Western delegation ever to travel to North Korea) was anything but modest. According to an official fact sheet, "the EU would like to encourage the search for a solution bringing lasting peace between South Korea and [North Korea]. This mission is intended to support the momentum created by the Pyongyang summit."

As is well-known, this momentum has been destroyed since U.S. President George W. Bush moved into the White House, a development that the Europeans have watched with little sympathy. Their intervention in Korea may well be described as a diplomatic reaction to the Bush administration's sabotage of the peace process. The new government in Washington has justified halting the dialogue with North Korea by instituting an ongoing policy review. Reportedly, this review will produce tangible results soon. This is good news, since uncertainty regarding U.S. strategy has been the main reason for the political stalemate on the Korean Peninsula. On several occasions, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung has urged the Americans to return to the negotiating table: "I hope the U.S.-North Korea talks can be resumed at the earliest possible date," Kim told his U.S. counterpart on the phone the other day.

Despite Washington's lack of support from Washington for his Sunshine Policy, Kim has never expressed even the slightest doubt that the United States remains Seoul's most important ally. "He is the most pro-American president the country has ever had," says an American friend who has worked as a lobbyist for Korean institutions in the U.S. capital. Yet Kim seems not to have developed any personal closeness, let alone friendship, with Bush.

Kim's encounter with the European delegation had a very different flavor. The atmosphere during meetings at the Blue House was so friendly, the mood at the banquet for the European guests so warm, that it almost felt like a family party. The Europeans appeared moved by the encounter with the South Korean statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Some could not hold back tears. "You Europeans," Kim told his visitors, are "standing on the side of the 70 million Koreans in the South and North, and all those in the world who love peace. I am most grateful to you."

He then called the European mission "a proud page in European history," emphasizing that peace, reconciliation and cooperation on the Peninsula have become "an irreversible inevitability." At the end of his extraordinarily friendly speech, he encouraged the Europeans to continue their involvement: "I hope," he said, "that the EU nations will continue to play a constructive role in the future."

Next morning, Kim praised the results of the EU's talks in the North: "We have achieved more than we anticipated," he said during a joint press conference at the Blue House. The most important result of the European visit to Pyongyang was North Korea's pledge to extend a moratorium on missile tests until 2003. This pledge was quite unexpected, as the missile issue is arguably the subject on which the Europeans have the least influence. Politically, the missile issue is the key to the resumption of the dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea. But with the Americans treating them like diplomatic pariahs (or rogues, to use the revived official term), the North Koreans at this point could think of no better messenger for their "olive branch" than the EU.

In Washington, the first reaction to Pyongyang's pledge has been positive: the State Department spokesman described the North Korean announcement as "constructive," then hurriedly welcomed the EU diplomatic mission: "We have been in touch with the Europeans all along and discussed their interaction with North Korea with them on a number of occasions. This is part of the whole process that we have supported and encouraged."

Not all Americans take such a positive view of the European involvement in an area many still consider an exclusive zone of U.S. strategic influence: "With all due respect to our European allies, I don't want them negotiating our security interests on the Korean Peninsula," a Democratic U.S. senator said recently. There are numerous indications that the EU is not much appreciated in the more conservative circles in America: "Beneath the bromides of alliance solidarity," one observer writes, "Washington has a cool contempt for its allies. It doesn't take more than a few drinks at Washington dinners to start a round of smug jokes at the allies' expense."

The Europeans put up with these jokes with a self-confidence befitting a newly emerging world power. Beyond the positive effects their mission to Northeast Asia may have on developments on the Korean Peninsula, this visit has also shown that the Europeans are ready and able to intervene effectively on the stage of international diplomacy. "We have an obligation to play a stronger role internationally, and will be more engaged in this globalized world," Javier Solana, the EU's foreign-policy chief, said in Seoul. What, one journalist wanted to know, is the source of this new sense of international commitment? The Spaniard answered without hesitation, "We Europeans, after the enlargement of our union, will have four times the population of Japan and twice the population of the United States. We have an obligation to get involved."