In expectation of a more succession-friendly government being elected, North Korea will not push for relation improvements with the present Lee Myung Bak administration, analysts say.
Scott Snyder, conservative expert on Korean peninsula issues from Council on Foreign Relations (CRF), predicted in a report on January 21st, “this year, inter-Korean relations will be focused on the shift consequent of the presidential election”. In fact, North Korea recently announced that, during this new Kim Jong Eun era, they will not deal with the current Lee administration.
Snyder further said that “North Korea applies tough measures to South Korea and at the same time resumes direct talks with the US and Japan” and “this is intended to come between South Korea and the U.S.’s relationship.”
This analysis is derived from North Korea’s recent behavior, trying for a third round of North Korean-US diplomatic talks and hopes of making better the abductees issue with Japan. The U.S. and North Korea, while discussing denuclearization as well as the US food assistance, is weighing out the pros and cons of resuming the Six-Party Talks.
Snyder made positive remarks regarding the recent South Korea-U.S.-Japan consultation, “We agreed that there is still hope in resuming talks” and predicted, of North Korea’s recent behavior, “resumption of the Six-Party Talks will not be an easy one”.
Regarding the demands of the U.S, to North Korea, to follow up a third round of U.S.-North Korea talks and resume Six-Party Talks he explained, “In 2010 the US disclosed via Doctor Siegfried Hacker that North Korea should suspend the Uranium Enrichment Program in Yongbyeon, while postponing the nuclear missile tests and stabilizing North-South relations.”
