Author: Kim Sung-han, Korea University

After the summit meeting with President Obama, President Lee Myung-bak urged representatives of top U.S. companies to push for quick ratification of a stalled U.S.-South Korean free trade deal. He told a crowd of business leaders at the June 16 dinner sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that ‘now is the time to step up’ and ratify a deal that he said would boost trade dramatically and strengthen the countries’ alliance. President Obama said during the summit that he wanted to make sure differences over automobiles are settled before the deal is sent to Congress for ratification.

Read more…

Author: Kim Sung-han, Korea University

A strong message was delivered from the White House Rose Garden to Pyongyang. ‘We agreed that under no circumstance are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons,’ South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told reporters after he and President Obama held a morning long summit meeting on June 16. Obama was equally emphatic about the need to defang the North Koreans by saying that ‘we will pursue denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula vigorously.’

In addition, both leaders agreed that North Korea’s provocations have been ‘rewarded’ as the international community offered fuel, food and loans in exchange for promises of good behavior that are eventually broken. They said in a single voice that ‘we are going to break that pattern.’

President Obama also said that North Korea would not find security or respect through threats and illegal weapons.This was a firm warning message to North Korea which has been relying on the so-called ‘salami tactics’ that slice an issue into pieces so that benefits may be maximized through negotiations over each slice.

In this light, the United States and other participating countries of the Six Party Talks are expected to explore a package deal, putting all issues on the table at once. They already purchased North Korea’s horse twice through the Geneva Agreed Framework of 1994 and the February 13 Agreement of 2007, which means they will never buy that horse (the ‘freezing’ of the nuclear weapons development program) three times. North Korea must dismantle nuclear facilities and eliminate nuclear weapons in a complete and verifiable manner.

Read more…