HONOLULU -- It's time for Washington and Seoul to try a new approach with North Korea. It's time to do . . . absolutely nothing!
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has announced that the United States is prepared to resume negotiations with North Korea anywhere, any time, at North Korea's choosing, with no preconditions. Pyongyang has said it finds these terms unacceptable. Instead, the North has demanded that U.S. President George W. Bush return to a policy "identical" to that of his predecessor before it is willing to allow talks to continue. This demand seems based on the ridiculous premise that Washington is so eager to resume discussions with Pyongyang that it is willing to permit the North to dictate the terms.
There are some (both on and beyond the Korean Peninsula) who believe that Washington does not want to engage Pyongyang, and that America needs North Korea as an enemy in order to justify its military presence in Asia and its missile defense program. I firmly reject this argument. But the reverse is also false. The Bush administration certainly does not need -- even though it has made it clear that it prefers -- good relations with Pyongyang. The benefits of improved U.S.-North Korean relations will be accrued primarily by the North, which remains relatively isolated from the international community and will likely become more so if it does not move forward with U.S.-North Korean, and especially North-South, dialogue.