MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti international commentator Ivan Zakharchenko) - The past few days shocked the Korean Peninsula at least twice. Roh Moo Hyun, who served as South Korea's president from 2003 to 2008, jumped from a 100-foot cliff on May 23 while hiking near his home. On May 25, North Korea expressed condolences to South Korea and at the same time announced a successful test of a nuclear weapon.
The KNCA news agency, the regime's official mouthpiece, said the test, the second since 2006, "will contribute to defending the sovereignty of the country and the nation and socialism and ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and the region." (Reuters)
The international community, including Russia, is divided over the announcement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the announcement should be "checked with the use of technical monitoring equipment."
President Barack Obama, who had denounced North Korea's missile launch last month as "a provocation," called the test a matter of grave concern to all countries.
"North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said in a statement. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in north-east Asia."
High-ranking diplomats from Russia, the United States, China, North Korea, South Korea and Japan have been trying to solve the Korean nuclear problem since August 2003, even though North Korea had no nuclear weapons at the time. It created and tested its first bomb three years later, when the six-party talks came to a standstill and nobody, especially the Americans, wanted to talk with North Korea.
The talks have been dealt a fresh blow now, this time because Japan refused to honor its obligations for supplying fuel to North Korea over bilateral disagreements that are not connected to the nuclear problem.
The United States failed to agree with Pyongyang on methods of checking its 18,000-page file on its nuclear programs.
As a result, North Korea launched a three-stage ballistic missile on April 5 and insisted that it put a peaceful communications satellite in orbit.
The UN condemned the test-launch and agreed to tighten sanctions put in place in 2006. Infuriated, Pyongyang expelled international inspectors, threatened to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and walked away from six-party nuclear talks.
This tug-of-war can go on endlessly, until a solution is found for the "no peace, no war" situation between North Korea and the United States.
Since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953), the two countries have singed only a truce agreement, although North Korea has long insisted that it should be replaced with a peace treaty as the basis for normalizing bilateral relations. However, Washington refuses even to discuss the possibility.
To force the United States to talk with it, North Korea has been taking steps the international community wants to preclude in the first place. And nobody wants to make a concession because this would mean losing face.
North Korea has been trying to prove that it will not allow anyone to force it on its knees.
The new U.S. administration may be willing to talk with Pyongyang, but it is only forming its diplomatic team, and besides, it cannot initiate contacts now that North Korea has resumed its nuclear program.
Such contacts can be resumed only if there is a solid reason, again for face-saving reasons.
The reason has been created by North Korea, which exploded a large-yield bomb, estimated at between 10 and 20 kilotons, and can now be called a nuclear power. In this situation, Washington may agree to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang, especially if the six-party talks show no progress.
The situation is so dramatic that it may justify Washington taking the first step. The sooner this happens, the fewer threatening moves North Korea will make.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
