South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun last week indicated that his country is willing to take a harder stance toward North Korea to resolve the conflict over Pyongyang’s relaunched nuclear efforts, according to the Wall Street Journal (see GSN, May 16).

Following a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, Roh and his aides have said Seoul will demand greater reciprocity from North Korea on the nuclear issue before it moves forward with economic aid and diplomatic exchanges, the Journal reported (see GSN, May 14).  Such a stance contrasts sharply with statements Roh made during South Korea’s presidential election last year, when he stressed the importance of engaging North Korea in an attempt to draw it out of isolation.

“We need to have a card to deal with the North that is more flexible than before and prevents us from being swayed by the North,” Roh said last week.  “We will not blindly follow the direction that North Korea wants in the future,” he said (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, May 19).

Meanwhile, Seoul has said that a 1992 inter-Korean agreement to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons is “still valid,” according to AFX News (see GSN, May 13).  North Korea last week said the agreement was dead and blamed the United States. 

“The official position of our government is that the denuclearization agreement is still valid,” said Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun.  “I don’t think North Korea has officially declared the scrapping of the agreement.  If you read North Korea’s statement carefully, you will know that North Korean authorities have not scrapped the agreement,” Jeong said in testimony before the South Korean National Assembly (AFX News, May 19). 

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