Amid the elevated tension from Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, Washington's move to tackle the defector issue seems to reflect the Bush administration's intention to pressure the Kim Jong Il regime and to weaken the foundation of the North Korean government. The United States has been pressuring North Korea from the outside by blockading its missile and narcotics export routes while stirring up its society from within by encouraging senior officials and scientists to defect.

We cannot be sure how far Washington is willing to go in dealing with the nuclear crisis, and that means we cannot confidently predict what will happen to the Korean Peninsula. If the mass defection of North Koreans to the United States were actually to happen, we cannot imagine how the shocking migration would change the fate of North Korea.

Regardless of what its true intention is, Washington's acceptance of North Korean defectors would surely win the support of the international community, for the humanitarian cause of saving the refugees. It would also stand as a shining beacon of hope for the defectors. Meanwhile, the South Korean government, which has been ignoring the tragedies of the defectors - who are South Korean citizens according to the constitution - would be unable to avoid embarrassment and humiliation.

The defector issue will require close negotiations between Seoul, Washington and Beijing, and a solution will depend on the agreements and disagreements from the trilateral discussion. If the Korean government continues to pretend the issue is not our own or overworry about the North's reactions, we would only become an international laughingstock. It is time for the Korean government to approach the defector issue beyond the humanitarian level and make it part of a comprehensive strategy toward the North, proposing solutions as a country at the center of the issue should. July 18, 2003