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Concerns that the Korea-U.S. alliance has hit the rocks surfaced Tuesday during a seminar in Washington on "Prospects for U.S. Policy toward the Korean Peninsula - in the Second Bush Administration" sponsored by the Chosun Ilbo and the U.S. Center for Strategic & International Studies.
U.S. House Representative and Chairman of the East Asia Pacific Subcommittee Jim Leach said it would be unwise for Korea to thoughtlessly toss aside its alliance with the United States at the beginning of the 21st century after it played such a decisive role in its political and economic security in the 20th. While it might bring short-term political benefits to put some distance between Seoul and Washington in the name of independence, in the long-term the policy was questionable, he said. Leach said a healthy alliance did not diminish but strengthen the sovereignty of both partners.
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Participants of a seminar sponsored by the Chosun Ilbo and the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on "Prospects for U.S. Policy toward the Korean Peninsula - in the Second Bush Administration" in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. From left, senior fellow at CSIS Derek J. Mitchell, Uri Party lawmaker and chairman of the National Assembly¡¯s Defense Committee Yoo Jay-kun, U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Evans Revere, and Oh Kong-dan, a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analysis.
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Leach, a sponsor of the North Korea Human Rights Act, said Pyongyang¡¯s rights record could no longer be ignored within the international community, and countries must not shirk it out of fear of angering Kim Jong-il.
U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Evans Revere said Washington¡¯s partners needed to understand that "strategic flexibility" envisaged for the U.S. Forces in Korea was not a one-way street. The concept would allow the U.S. to deploy additional forces stationed in other regions to Korea in any emergency on the Korean Peninsula, allowing it to better carry out its security commitments under the Korea-U.S. pact, he said.
Oh Kong-dan of the Institute for Defense Analysis said the alliance was like a marriage that could flounder if Korea cannot accept greater flexibility for the USFK. But Uri Party lawmaker Yoo Jay-kun, who chairs the National Assembly's Defense Committee, said the relationship was experiencing "growing pains" during a transitional period, and that it was time to look at building a healthier relationship between the two allies.
Turning to the North Korean nuclear dispute, Victor Cha of the White House National Security Council reiterated Washington¡¯s position that Pyongyang¡¯s brinkmanship and threats will only isolate it further, and stressed the U.S. has no intention of holding bilateral negotiations with the North before six-party nuclear disarmament talks resume or reward the North's bad behavior.
Grand National Party lawmaker Park Jin said that it would be the greatest mistake for North Korea to carry out a nuclear test. He called on Seoul to come up with successively more forceful responses, citing pressure as a possible Stage 2, and a blockade as Stage 3.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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