Why hasn’t Chung Dong-young resigned yet?

(By guest blogger Andy Jackson)

It happens with enough regularity that I hardly notice it anymore.

Step One; Pyongyang throws a tantrum:

North Korea said on Tuesday that it is ‘absolutely impossible’ for Pyongyang to return to the six-party denuclearization talks as the United States is ‘avoiding’ a bilateral meeting on Washington’s financial sanctions on the communist state.

Step Two; Chung Dong-young says something stupid in an attempt to appease them:

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young says issues other than the nuclear standoff raised by the U.S. against North Korea should be resolved through bilateral discussions between Washington and Pyongyang. Chung said problems like conventional weapons, human rights, drug trafficking and counterfeit money dealings by the North are being cited by the U.S. as key pending problems. But he said they should be addressed separately from the six-way talks aimed at shutting down North Korea’s nuclear programs.

In Chung’s defense, he also said that Pyongyang should not use US sanctions against North Korea counterfeiting interests as a reason to boycott the talks.

But if Chung really thinks that human rights and drug trafficking have no place in the talks, I would humbly suggest that there are a few other items that also don’t belong in the talks; energy aid, economic development aid, diplomatic recognition and lifting sanctions.

If Pyongyang wants the six-party talks to only deal with narrow range of security issues, fine. I have not problem with that. But if they start talking about financial aid or diplomatic recognition, then they are going to have to bring more to the table.

Oh I almost forgot (from the second link above)…

Step Three; Ban Ki-moon has to ‘clarify’ what Chung said:

The nation’s top diplomat Ban Ki-moon took a similar stance saying the U.S. government’s sanctions against North Korea’s illicit activities should not affect negotiations at the six-party talks. The foreign minister said the counterfeiting and other issues should be dealt with in the framework of an international court of law.

He stressed this should be considered separate from the agenda on denuclearizing North Korea and should not become a stumbling block at the dialogue table.

I doubt that Seoul can develop a realistic policy towards North Korea until Chung resigns.