US key to DPRK nuclear issue

On Wednesday, President of the Republic of Korea Park Geun-hye asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to persuade the Democratic People's Republic of Korea not to conduct a fourth nuclear test when US President Barack Obama visits the ROK.

Concern has grown in the ROK that the DPRK "could spark an arms race and a nuclear domino effect that could change the security landscape in Northeast Asia".

China and the ROK have entered the era of best-ever relationship, and the DPRK's nuclear tests pose a threat not only to the ROK, but also China's border security.

The United States has been urging China to press the DPRK on one hand while encouraging Japan to provoke China on the other.

In written remarks published by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, Obama said "The policy of the United States is clear - the Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan and therefore fall within the scope of Article 5 of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. And we oppose any unilateral attempts to undermine Japan's administration of these islands."

Uncle Sam is really a business man who wants to gain without pain. The US is pouring fuel on the flames, so that the DPRK is pushed into conducting a fourth nuclear test, which will undermine China's security and drive a wedge between China and the DPRK. Moreover, the US can fully make use of the DPRK's nuclear threat to strengthen US-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation, and eventually form a "mini NATO" in Asia to contain China and Russia.

In fact, the ball is in the US' court. If it truly wants to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue, it has to abandon the schemes to contain Russia and China with the DPRK nuclear card.

In his effort to build the momentum for Obama's visit to Asia, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Danny Russel came up with some impractical suggestions. For instance, addressing a conference organized by Asia Society on April 1, he said China could help reduce US military deployments in East Asia by using its "influence" over the DPRK to guide it to the right path. By saying the US would reduce troops in East Asia if China made the DPRK abandon its nuclear program, Russel has wrongly assumed that Beijing has the power to control Pyongyang. Besides, his statement implies that if China doesn't do so, the US will continue consolidating its forces in East Asia in order to protect its Asian allies, especially the ROK and Japan.

Perhaps Russel does not know that military might cannot resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the best way of resolving it is for the US to withdraw troops from the ROK and sign a peace agreement with the DPRK.

China's efforts to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue and ease tensions on the Peninsula have yielded results, and the international community acknowledges that. But some countries with ulterior motives say that China has not exerted enough pressure on the DPRK to make it abandon its nuclear program. They also say that China's trade with and humanitarian aid to the DPRK have seriously undermined the impact of the UN sanctions on the country and helped it to develop nuclear weapons.

Nothing could be further from the truth. By portraying the DPRK as a military threat, the US and its some of its Asian allies aim to realize their own strategic goals. The Peninsula nuclear issue has become the best excuse for the US to push forward its "pivot to Asia" policy and strengthen its military ties with its Asian allies. The development of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and the evolution of America's DPRK policy show that Washington has been exaggerating Beijing's influence on Pyongyang.

Why can't the US and its allies understand that the DPRK is a sovereign country, and the pressure put by another country or UN sanctions alone will not make it abandon its nuclear program?

After the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test, the US strengthened its strategic presence in East Asia by deploying more advanced weapons on the Peninsula and carrying out more elaborate joint drills with the ROK. Ironically, what the US thought would act as deterrence against the DPRK deterred the efforts to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue.

The year began with some positive signs, with the DPRK and the ROK holding high-level talks and organizing a reunion of separated families. Unfortunately, the good momentum was broken by the annual US-ROK military drills - "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle 2014". Washington and Seoul then carried out their biggest joint amphibious-landing and air-combat drills. Reacting to them, Pyongyang fired dozens of short-range missiles over the sea off its eastern coast and hundreds of artillery shells in the waters near the disputed DPRK-ROK maritime border. It also threatened to conduct another nuclear test if the US stuck to its hostile policy.

Maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is in the interest of not only the DPRK, the US and the ROK, but also all the countries in the region and beyond; it is their responsibility too. Therefore, during his visit to the ROK, Obama should use his diplomatic and political powers to restore peace and stability on the Peninsula. But for that, the US has to renounce its containment policy toward the DPRK, reduce the number of or even cancel joint military exercises with the ROK, lower the threshold for resuming the Six-Party Talks and strengthen cooperation with countries in East Asia. The US should realize that it can help resolve the Peninsula nuclear issue only through peaceful talks, not by flexing its military muscle.

The author is an associate researcher at the Center for Northeast Asian Studies, a research institute in Jilin province.