U.S. has no intention to build close ties with N. Korea: ex-official

By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is seeking a "strategic partnership" with
the United States but the idea will never be accepted by Washington as such close
ties would undermine its regional interests, a former U.S. official said.
David Straub, who accompanied U.S. ex-President Bill Clinton on his trip to
Pyongyang last month, said North Korea holds too little economic or political
value for the U.S. to risk its relations with China or alliances with South Korea
and Japan.
"If the DPRK (North Korea) officials are sincere, they are profoundly mistaken in
their understanding of American interests and attitudes toward the Korean
Peninsula," Straub, director of the State Department's Korea desk from 2002 to
2004 and currently a Standford University professor, said in a contribution to a
scholarly publication, "Korea Focus."
"U.S. administrations have never considered, and will never consider,
establishing a strategic relationship with the DPRK. North Korea's closed
economic and social system means the country has virtually nothing of value to
offer the United States," he said.
Clinton had hours of talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during his Aug. 4
visit, which led to the release of two detained American journalists. U.S.
officials later described the meeting as "respectful" and "cordial" but details
of their conversation were not disclosed.
Straub said North Korea has long proposed that the two countries end decades-long
hostile relations, arguing a close relationship would help the U.S. maintain a
power balance in Northeast Asia, particularly against China. He did not specify,
however, whether the "strategic partnership" offer was presented to Clinton
during his meeting with the North Korean leader.
"North Korea is not an India or a Pakistan," Straub said, "Even U.S. toying with
the idea would infuriate Beijing and work to the detriment of U.S. global and
regional interests."
North Korea is currently under U.N. financial and other sanctions over its
long-range rocket and nuclear tests.
In a dramatic change of attitude toward South Korea and the U.S. this month,
North Korea released the American journalists, restored inter-Korean business
ventures and sent a delegation to Seoul to pay respects to late former South
Korean President Kim Dae-jung.
The Barack Obama administration is "willing to try to accommodate North Korean
concerns" in an effort to resolve the nuclear dispute, but it "will not guarantee
DPRK regime survival against internal threats, and the United States will not
take steps that might undermine its own alliance relationships with the Republic
of Korea and Japan," Straub said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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