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Why did North Korea wait till Tuesday with its sudden agreement to rejoin six-party talks on its nuclear program? North Korea had been adamant that the U.S. must revoke financial sanctions before it would return to the negotiating table. But the U.S.¡¯s chief negotiator in the talks Christopher Hill on Tuesday said Pyongyang put no conditions to rejoining the talks.
Some experts had expected an abrupt about-face after the nuclear test. Seeing the swift and firm response of the international community and stronger sanctions than it may have anticipated, the Stalinist state may have judged a quick return to the talks was its best bet for staving off the worst of the punitive measures. Nam Joo-hong, a political scientist at Kyonggi University in Seoul, says Pyongyang ¡°may simply be trying to buy some time before it draws out the nuclear problem even further.¡± In other words, the North¡¯s main goal is to dodge the cutting edge of the U.S.-led sanctions.
But others say North Korea played its last trump card with the nuclear test. ¡°After seeing that the U.S. and the international community weren¡¯t buying the North¡¯s brinkmanship as manifested in the nuclear test, it may have realized that it threw away its best card,¡± Prof. Kim Geun-sik of Kyungnam University says.
It is also possible that the North realized the U.S.¡¯ determination in the matter and judged that tossing out everything, including the option of a return to the six-way talks, would leave it in a precarious position. Now it is becoming accepted that the North is indeed a nuclear power, it may also be hoping to take advantage of the situation by demanding mutual disarmament negotiations.
Some speculate that Pyongyang may be concerned that advocates of the engagement policy in South Korea have their back against the wall after the nuclear test, and is seeking to provide them with a way to save face.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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