[Editorial] Biegun’s S. Korea visit can hopefully turn N. Korea situation around

Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea, arrives in Seoul on Dec. 15. (Yonhap News)

Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea, arrives in Seoul on Dec. 15. (Yonhap News)

Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea, arrived in South Korea on Dec. 15. The day before Biegun’s arrival, North Korea announced it had carried out another “critical test,” just six days after the previous one. The US responded to the test by once again calling North Korea a “rogue state.” We stand at a perilous crossroads in the standoff between North Korea and the US: in one direction lies a solution through dialogue; in the other, a terrible confrontation. We hope that Biegun’s visit to South Korea will create an opportunity for turning this situation around.

North Korea’s second “crucial test,” carried out on Dec. 13, seems likely to have been an ICBM combustion test. That likelihood derives from North Korea’s use of language about strengthening its “strategic nuclear deterrent.” That’s fueling predictions that North Korea is moving toward an ICBM launch, not a satellite launch, as its end-of-the-year deadline approaches. If North Korea pushes ahead with such a launch, as predicted, the North Korea and the US will return to their pre-2017 standoff, and North Korea will inevitably face even more severe international sanctions than at present. North Korea needs to immediately halt this dangerous, and self-defeating, behavior.

The standoff between the two sides has elements of brinkmanship, or what’s called the “game of chicken.” Following the “crucial test,” Pak Jong-chon, chief of the general staff of the Korean People’s Army, warned that “the US [. . .] will spend the year-end in peace only when they hold off any words and deeds rattling us.” This was a retort to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s reference to North Korea as a “rogue state” immediately after the North’s test. Esper went on to say that, if North Korea sought to develop ICBMs in addition to its nuclear stockpile, it would present a direct threat to the US. But there’s still a chance of dialogue, though it’s as slender as a thread. Pak’s remark that “we should be [. . .] familiar with both dialogue and confrontation” can be seen as suggesting that North Korea has yet to close the door to dialogue.

Biegun, who’s scheduled to remain in South Korea through Dec. 17, is reportedly willing to immediately meet with the North Koreans if they so desire. That’s reportedly why he left some extra room in his itinerary here. No specific information has been reported about what he has in mind. He visited the Blue House on the morning of Dec. 16 for a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, during which the two discussed the standoff between North Korea and the US. If things continue in their present course, it’s obvious that North Korea will carry out a provocation and that the Korean Peninsula Peace Process will run into a major crisis. The South Korean government needs to make every effort at its disposal to resume dialogue during Biegun’s visit to the country.

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