EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on June 15)

Solidifying U.S. alliance

President Lee Myung-bak today boards a plane for a summit meeting with U.S.
President Barack Obama. The meeting scheduled for Tuesday at the White House
comes at a time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted on the toughest sanctions
yet against the recalcitrant state following its May 25 second nuclear test.
North Korea further defied the international community by declaring its decision
to embark on a program to enrich uranium and reprocess the existing plutonium
stockpiles to produce atomic warheads.
By denouncing the UN resolution as a war-provoking action, the isolated state is
playing a high-risk game of chicken with the international community, a movement
that now has the support of the North???s former allies: China and Russia. The
two leaders have to reaffirm the principles of denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula while at the same time display a level of determination that will calm
things down.
In a symbolic gesture, South Korea and the U.S. have already agreed to include
the U.S. offer of ???extended deterrence,??? a broader defense mechanism
including a nuclear umbrella, in their joint statement after the summit meeting.
Without clarifying the nuclear umbrella issue, there???s no knowing where talk in
Korea and Japan on nuclear self-protection will lead.
The Korean Peninsula does not solely involve South Korea, but at the same time no
discussion about the region can progress without involving the South.
President Lee must draw up a U.S. pledge that South Korea won???t be excluded in
any further U.S.-North Korean talks. There has been speculation that the U.S.,
China and Japan will hold senior talks in Washington next month. President Lee,
as he mentioned in an interview with the U.S. media, can propose resumption of
the six-party talks without North Korea.
We hope the two leaders will produce serious discussions in mapping out a broader
vision for the Korean Peninsula. President Lee should represent a big picture of
a peaceful Korean Peninsula firmly rooted in democracy and a market economy that
offers no security threat to its neighbors and draw full-fledged support from the
U.S. president.
The two allies should concoct a clever strategy to entice North Korea to give up
its nuclear ambitions and veer toward reform and transparency.
The two could also discuss the problem of sending senior envoys to North Korea.
President Obama should place the North Korean problem as his top priority in
foreign affairs. Making him do so is entirely up to President Lee.
(END)