[USFK Forums] Scholar Calls for 3-Nation Talks [Korea Times]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Thursday, March 30, 2006

Scholar Calls for 3-Nation Talks

The Korea Times, Thursday March 30, 2006
By Jung Sung-ki, Staff Reporter

A South Korean scholar Thursday proposed that tripartite arms control talks involving the two Koreas and the United States be established to lay the foundation for the permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

Professor Han Yong-sup of the Korean National Defense University described it as an essential step toward the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas.

In a security seminar in Seoul, Han stressed the need for the arms control process in order to disconnect ``vicious circle’’ between arms race and the Cold War structure as was successfully undertaken by the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War era.

The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), affiliated with the Defense Ministry, hosted the forum at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul.

Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung, Rep. Yoo Jay-kun, chairman of the National Assembly’s defense panel, and security experts attended the gathering.

Han suggested that arms control offices be established at the presidential office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Defense Ministry to help promote arms control strategy to one of the main national security policies and implement it in an effective manner.

``Since the Korean arms control process requires North Korea and the ROK-U.S. alliance to adapt to new security situations, Seoul and Washington need to launch a joint study team to devise specific arms-control measures,’’ he said.

Offering economic assistance to North Korea in return for its efforts to relocate forward deployed military forces to the rear area is a viable and flexible option that South Korea can take on, the professor said.

During the forum, Paek Seung-joo, an analyst at the KIDA, said the United States should participate in any future talks, involving the two Koreas, on the establishment of a peace regime on the peninsula, given Washington was the main player for the current armistice treaty that took effect in 1953.

A joint statement issued at the end of the fourth round of six-party talks in Beijing late September included a provision on joint efforts by ``the directly related parties’’ to put a permanent peace framework on the peninsula.

Since then, debates have arisen over which nations should take part in talks on the peace regime, while China has often referred to be a negotiator because of Beijing’s large influence on the nuclear talks and North Korea.

The six-party talks, involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, are intended to convince the North to scrap its nuclear weapons programs.

The multilateral talks have stalled since last November following financial sanctions imposed by Washington on Pyongyang for alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering activities.


gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

03-30-2006 18:30

[BIGD]

IN THEORY THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA AND IT WOULD BE A WONDERFUL THING..... IN REALITY, IT HAS BEEN TRIED BEFORE, BEGINNING IN 1951, AND NORTH KOREA CANNOT BE TRUSTED OR BELIEVED AS LONG AS THE CURRENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE LEADERSHIP REMAINS!!! IT'S BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, AGAIN!!!