President Park Geun-hye Thursday called for joint efforts by South Korea and the United States to coax North Korea to give up its nuclear aspirations and pursue reform and openness.
North Korea pledged to scrap its nuclear program in return for diplomatic concessions and economic aid under a landmark 2005 nuclear deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The North later backtracked from its commitment and conducted nuclear tests. It has also repeatedly vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy against it.
“The South Korea-U.S. alliance should exercise leadership to induce North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and pursue reform and openness,” Park said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.
Park accused North Korea of sticking to the path of isolation while advancing its nuclear capability, citing a recent nuclear deal reached between the United States, five other world powers and Iran.
South Korea has called on North Korea to emulate Vietnam and Myanmar, which opted for reform and openness.
“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is at a crossroads due to the possibility of North Korea’s provocations,” Park said.
There is lingering speculation that North Korea may launch a long-range rocket in the coming months to put what it claims to be a satellite into orbit.
Seoul and Washington view a satellite launch as a cover for testing the North’s ballistic missile technology, which is banned under U.N. resolutions.
A new rocket launch could prompt the U.N. to further tighten sanctions on North Korea, which has long been under an array of U.S. and international sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests.
Park also said she plans to host leaders of China and Japan in two weeks for a trilateral summit, noting it could serve as an occasion to improve relations between South Korea and Japan. She didn’t provide a specific date for the summit.
A trilateral summit has not been held since May 2012 due to tensions mainly over Japan’s attempts to whitewash its wartime atrocities and colonial occupation. Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45 and controlled much of China in the early part of the 20th century.
“I hope that South Korea and Japan can remove obstacles to their relations and hold in-depth discussions on future-oriented development,” Park said.
South Korea and Japan are close economic partners and key allies of the U.S., though they have long been at odds over their shared history, including the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II.
South Korea has repeatedly pressed Japan to resolve the issue of the elderly Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan’s World War II soldiers — one of the knottiest issues between the two neighbors.
The issue of sex slaves has gained urgency as the victims are dying off. In 2007, more than 120 South Korean victims were alive, but the number has since dropped to 47, with their average age standing at nearly 90. (Yonhap)
