South Korean president says China “good model” for North to follow

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

WASHINGTON, 7 May: South Korean President Park Geun-hye [Pak Ku’n- hye] said Tuesday [7 May] China should exercise more of its leverage over North Korea to get the totalitarian nation to choose the right path for the sake of greater peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Park made the remark in an interview with the Washington Post after summit talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, where they agreed to deal resolutely with North Korean provocations while at the same time leaving open the door for dialogue.

“I believe that China can exert more influence on North Korea, I think they can do more,” Park said during the interview. “In order for North Korea to change, and in order for the Korean Peninsula to enjoy greater peace, North Korea needs to choose the right path, and China should exert greater influence in inducing North Korea to do so.”

China is considered the only country with any meaningful influence over Pyongyang. Beijing has been a long-time provider of aid and diplomatic protection for North Korea, but has been reluctant to use its leverage out of concern that pushing Pyongyang too hard could lead to instability in the neighbouring nation.

Park said she wants to have “very candid” discussions with China’s President Xi Jinping about the North.

“I also hope to be able to engage in candid discussions with him about whether, if North Korea decides not to become a responsible member of the international community, and chooses not to take the right path, this current path that it is taking is sustainable. Is there a future there?”

Park said China also offers “a very good model” for North Korea to follow.

“We can’t expect China to do everything, and the Chinese also say they can’t do everything. But I do believe there’s room for them to undertake more with respect to some material aspects. At the same time China has been able to achieve growth and development through reform and opening,” she said.

Park also said it’s not the right time for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un [Kim Cho’ng-u’n].

“I’ve proposed a trust-building process on the Korean Peninsula. We will never tolerate North Korea’s nuclear weapons and North Korea’s provocations. Its threats will not pay. At the same time, this trust-building process is about keeping open the window for dialogue with North Korea at all times,” she said.

“But what use would it be at this moment? As the Korean saying goes, it takes two hands to clap,” she said.

On relations with Japan, Park said that the two countries share many things in common, such as values of democracy, freedom and market economy, and they also need to cooperate more closely on North Korea.

Japan, however, has been “opening past wounds and has been letting them fester,” referring to Tokyo’s unremorseful attitude about its 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, such as its failure to address grievances of former sex slaves and its claim to the easternmost South Korean islets of Dokdo [Liancourt Rocks].

“This arrests our ability to really build on momentum, so I hope that Japan reflects upon itself,” she said.

Originally published by Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0620 08 May 13.

(c) 2013 BBC Monitoring Newsfile. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Category: Featured, National