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If North Korea's missile tests were a ploy to divide the isolated country¡¯s neighbors, they succeeded beautifully, experts say. Above all, they succeeded in giving Pyongyang a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S.
The missile test has shaken up the cooperative triangle of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan. Despite U.S. calls for the allies to "speak in one voice," Washington and Tokyo are pursuing UN Security Council sanctions, while South Korea opposes them, as does China. "We oppose any action that may worsen the situation on the Korean Peninsula,¡± Chinese President Hu Jintao said Tuesday. President Roh Moo-hyun simply said, "I can¡¯t understand North Korea, no matter how hard I try.¡±
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The U.S. chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill briefs journalists in a hotel lobby in Beijing on Wednesday. Hill is on a trouble-shooting tour of the region after Niorth Korea¡¯s missile tests last week. /AFP -Yonhap
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In the U.S., there are now calls for bilateral negotiations with North Korea, which is what Pyongyang wanted all along. The New York Times on Monday called for them, and Congress increasingly believes the Bush administration's refusal to meet the North one-on-one made the situation worse. Meanwhile, talk of a pre-emptive strike against North Korea's missile launch sites from Japan has shifted anger from the tests themselves to the overreaction, a definite boon from Pyongyang¡¯s perspective. The remarks offer a rare opportunity for the two Koreas to pull rank against Japan.
Since inter-Korean ministerial talks are taking place as planned despite the missile test, North Korea has also been handed an opportunity to show the international community how cooperative it can be.
Observers say the tests also consolidated Kim Jong-il¡¯s hold on power. North Korea experts say Pyongyang¡¯s first launch of a long-range missile boosted morale in the late 1990s, just after the famine, and the second will also consolidate the base on which the regime is built. In the developing world, the North may have won a few more friends by boosting its anti-American credentials, while also promoting its missile technology, which is for sale.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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