Following the firing of the foreign minister from office while flying back from a meeting with US officials as a snub to Washington, a ruling party lawmaker advocated a theory that encourages anti-US sentiment, calling US President George W. Bush the "incarnation of evil" on Monday, a day before Bush's Seoul visit.

Korea lapsed into chaos over US's North Korea policy. As the two countries have mixed attitudes; Korea insisting on the 'sunshine policy,' while Washington designated the North as one of the three worst rogue nations, and determined to tame it; many worry if the Korea-US alliance has been ruptured already.

In dealing with the North, Seoul and Washington agreed upon divided roles; Korea focuses on relieving tension, and motivating exchange and dialogue between the North and the South, while the US works to resolve international security concerns, such as weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, and missile proliferation.

However, as the two areas are interrelated, the two countries' cooperation and alliance is the principle of North Korea policy. The nature of each country's role inevitably leads to a formula of a determined Washington and an amicable Seoul.

It is true that Washington has the option to be conciliatory. The US constructed light-water reactor in the North and provided crude petroleum to counter the threat of developing nuclear weapons. However, the appeasement measure not only set a precedent of paying a ransom to a blackmailer, but also resulted in a even more serious menace of continued missile development, producing internal criticism in the US as well as internationally.

The US Republican administration has chosen "stick" over carrots in dealing with the North. Especially as the disturbed public opinion from the terrorist attacks on September 11 would not allow carrots toward rogue nations, and Washington is determined to exercise the most powerful possible "stick" they have.

We need to examine whether the North's continuous weapons of mass destruction and mid- and long-range missile developments and sales would benefit the interest of the North when even Russia and China are supporting the US-lead anti-terrorism movement. Seoul has no reason to oppose Washington's theory that it is unreasonable for the country whose people are starving and are receiving food aid from abroad to spend money on disturbing international security.

Seoul's only justification to go against Washington is that US' calling the North an "axis of evil" and a potential military attack against the North would result in harm to dialogue and threaten the security of the Korean peninsula. However, two questions arise; whether the US will strike the North, and will the "stick" policy shake the "sunshine policy."

The US attacking the North is an unlikely situation in the post-Cold War era, when even Pyongyang admits the power of America and understands that they cannot survive against the US. Observation on Pyongyang's diplomatic moves during the past few years proves that the North is far more realistic and skillful than most South Koreans' understand, and Pyongyang could settle on dialogue with the US, even under desperate circumstances.

What we must not forget is that the purpose of the US "stick" is for negotiation. In addition, it does not necessarily harm the sunshine policy, since Pyongyang would lean towards the South over the hard-line from Washington. The worst card for Korea to play countering the "stick" policy is criticizing the US.

The principle of Korean diplomacy is not to stand between the US and the North, but rather joining with the US to control the North. The concept that the North and the South are the same people and the US a foreign power is a premise that can be postponed after overcoming the military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

(Professor at Sogang University and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade - February 19, 2002)