NORTH KOREA NEWSLETTER NO. 59 (June 18, 2009)

*** TOPIC OF THE WEEK (Part 1)

Lee, Obama Warn of 'Serious Consequences' for N. Korean Provocation

SEOUL (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack
Obama strongly urged North Korea to immediatly halt its provocative actions,
saying threats and belligerent behavior will result in serious consequences.

During their June 16 summit in Washington, the leaders affirmed that peaceful
coexistence is still an option for the communist North, but that it can only be
obtained through peaceful negotiations.
"I want to be clear that there is another path available for North Korea. A path
that will lead to peace and prosperity," the U.S. president said in a joint press
conference with Lee shortly after their summit talks at the White House. "That
destination can only be reached through peaceful negotiation and
denuclearization," Obama said.
The South Korean president said North Korea must understand that "they will not
be able to gain compensation by creating crises." "President Obama and I urge the
North Koreans to fully give up their nuclear ambitions and become a responsible
member of the international community," he added. The South Korean head of state
arrived in Washington June 15 on a three-day official visit.
The meeting between Lee and Obama came as Pyongyang is threatening to reinforce
its nuclear arsenal and continue with its provocative nuclear and ballistic
missile tests despite a U.N. Security Council resolution that condemned its May
25 nuclear test detonation and prohibited any future tests by the communist
state.
Obama said Seoul, Washington and the rest of the world will begin "serious
enforcement" of sanctions already placed on the North by U.N. Security Council
resolutions if Pyongyang continues to provoke.
Lee called for close cooperation between Seoul and Washington in dealing with
Pyongyang, saying a firm alliance between the two will make North Korea think
twice before taking any steps it might regret.
President Lee also hinted at a possible shutdown of a lucrative industrial park
in North Korea. Lee's warning came shortly after Pyongyang demanded in recent
dialogue with Seoul that South Korean businesses at the joint industrial complex
in Kaesong raise the salaries of their North Korean workers by nearly four times
and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fees.
"We urge North Korea not to make any unacceptable demands because we really do
not know what will happen if they keep on this path," Lee told the press
conference, adding that more than 40,000 North Koreans currently working for
South Korean firms will also lose jobs if the industrial park closes.
The dramatic change of position on Kaesong by Lee, who earlier said the
reconciliatory project must be kept alive despite the nuclear standoff,
apparently comes as he and Obama agreed to break what they called a pattern of
their making concessions following North Korean threats and provocations.
"I want to emphasize something President Lee said, that there has been a pattern
in the past where North Korea behaves in a belligerent fashion and, if it waits
long enough, it is rewarded," Obama told the joint press conference. "I think
that is the pattern they have come to expect. The message we are sending them is
that we are going to break that pattern," he added.
The Lee-Obama summit came amid North Korea's threat to reinforce its nuclear
arsenal and start enriching uranium -- a move that prompted the ongoing nuclear
standoff in the first place -- in a clear defiance of a U.N. Security Council
resolution that condemned its May 25 nuclear test. The socialist state has also
said it will not come to the negotiating table unless Washington first recognizes
it as a nuclear state.
Obama made it clear his country will not make any concessions. "North Korea also
has a track record of proliferation that makes it unacceptable for them to be a
nuclear power," he told the press conference.
Shortly after the North's nuclear detonation test last month, the second of its
kind since 2006, the U.S. said it was considering putting North Korea back on its
list of terrorism-sponsoring states. North Korea was taken off the list for first
time last year under a denuclearization-for-aid deal.
"In order to take the path of peace and prosperity, North Korea has to make a
decision and understand that prestige and security and prosperity are not going
to come through the path of threatening neighbors and engaging in violations of
international law," he said.
The U.S. president added that the world will begin "serious enforcement" of
sanctions already placed on the North by U.N. Security Council resolutions if
Pyongyang continues to be provocative and belligerent.
Following their talks, Lee and Obama said they have agreed to significantly boost
their countries' relationship, and the South Korean president noted that a firm
alliance between the two will make North Korea think twice before taking steps it
might regret.
In a joint statement issued at the end of the summit, the leaders said the
countries will turn their alliance, formed under a mutual defense treaty signed
in 1953, into a "comprehensive, strategic relationship" built not only on
bilateral or security issues, but also on social, economic and political issues
at regional as well as global levels.
"Through our Alliance we aim to build a better future for all people on the
Korean Peninsula, establishing a durable peace on the Peninsula and leading to
peaceful reunification on the principles of free democracy and a market economy,"
said the statement, titled "Joint Vision for the Alliance" of South Korea and the
United States.
Experts explained that the leaders of South Korea and the United States tried
turning the table on North Korea, telling the communist nation to either choose
peaceful coexistence or face further isolation and other serious consequences.
The high-toned words came amid concerns over a possible third nuclear detonation
and long-range missile tests by the North. "We are more than willing to engage in
negotiations to get North Korea on a path of peaceful coexistence with its
neighbors, and we want to encourage their prosperity," Obama said in the joint
press conference. "But belligerent, provocative behavior that threatens neighbors
will be met with significant, serious enforcement of sanctions that are in
place," he said.
Shortly after Pyongyang conducted its second nuclear test on May 25, the South
Korean president said the North should not be engaged just for the sake of
negotiations, which would be a reward for bad behavior.
The leaders' statement is likely to be met by further provocations from North
Korea, however, which last week said it will weaponize its plutonium and start
enriching uranium, a technology that can be used as an alternative to making
atomic weapons. "North Koreans must understand that they will not be able to gain
compensation by provoking a crisis. This has been a pattern in the past, but this
will no longer be," President Lee said.
Lee and Obama warned the North against a provocative reaction, reaffirming the
U.S. provision of extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella, to South
Korea. "We will maintain a robust defense posture, backed by allied capabilities
which support both nations' security interests. The continuing commitment of
extended deterrence, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella, reinforces this
assurance," the leaders said in a joint statement, named "Joint Vision for the
Alliance" of South Korea and the United States.
Washington has provided nuclear protection to Seoul since the end of the 1950-53
Korean War and frequently reaffirmed its commitment to the joint defense of South
Korea. But this was the first time that the pledge was affirmed in a written
document signed by a U.S. president, South Korean officials emphasized.
The conservative South Korean leader has not provided food or fertilizer aid to
North Korea since taking office early last year, calling for progress first in
talks on denuclearizing the North, although his predecessors had provided about
500,000 tons of food and roughly as much fertilizer annually to the impoverished
neighbor.
Despite the gloomy outlook for the nuclear talks, the Lee-Obama summit has helped
the two nations consolidate their bilateral alliance as well as cooperation in
staving off a possible attack from the North, which is widely believed to be
equipped with a nuclear arsenal as well as long-range missiles.
(END)