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June 16, 2000 VOL. 29 NO. 23 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK Editorial: Reaching Out Korea's summiteers should seize the chance for a fresh start North Korean leader Kim Jong Il never travels abroad. So his visit last week to Beijing, just two weeks before he was to meet South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, to discuss the summit hints at the importance he attaches to the historic event. In China, Kim praised his hosts' capitalist-style market reforms and opening to the world. That fed speculation that he may have similar plans for his own reclusive country. Certainly, Pyongyang's recent diplomatic initiatives, such as establishing normal ties with Italy and Australia, seem to point in that direction. Still, Kim may have been only polite. After all, he stressed he would continue to build "Korean-style socialism, according to its own situation." Since that particular path is manifestly a failure, including possibly to Kim Jong Il himself, it can be safely assumed that he desires some form of change. Otherwise, he would not be reaching out. If Kim's government is to turn around an economy that has been steadily contracting for the past decade, it must break out of its extreme isolation. That includes dealing with South Korea, the North's most important source of aid and investment. For half a century, Pyongyang has refused to conduct a serious, sustained dialogue with Seoul. North Korea must now seize the opportunity to do so; anything less would render the summit a meaningless photo-op. Kim will need some help from South Korea, Japan and the United States. They should reassure him that, while they favor market reforms, they are not interested in seeing an East Germany-like collapse of North Korea. That should not be so hard, given that most of the major powers have a vested interest in the continued division of the Korean peninsula. Even South Korea, for all its nationalistic sentiments, does not want reunification any time soon, given the current impoverished, repressive conditions in the North. Indeed, Kim Jong Il likely agreed to the summit only after he was convinced of the sincerity of Kim Dae Jung's conciliatory approach. The latter has held consistently to his Sunshine Policy during the past two years, despite Northern provocations and incidents, such as last year's bloody naval encounter in the Yellow Sea. Kim Jong Il should lose no time working toward a permanent peace with South Korea. After all, the person who replaces Kim Dae Jung as the South's leader after the country's 2003 presidential election may not be as well disposed toward Pyongyang as he is. The summiteers would like to keep their meeting focused on bilateral matters. There are good reasons for this: Such issues as family reunions and economic exchanges are easier to resolve than complex geopolitical matters. Yet given the Korean peninsula's strategic location, big-power concerns cannot be entirely ignored. Kim Jong Il should take steps to allay American and Japanese fears that his government is continuing to build or acquire weapons of mass destruction. He could take this opportunity to show that he has no aggressive designs against Japan or the U.S. In the past, North Korea made many promises it subsequently failed to deliver on. But things may be changing. What Kim Jong Il does in the months ahead will determine not only if his people will have two square meals a day, but also whether there will be lasting peace on the Korean peninsula. Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
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