Engaging NK only option to resolve nuclear program: ex-US envoy

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Engaging NK only option to resolve nuclear
program ex-US envoy
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• A policy of engagement with North Korea is the
  only viable option to resolve the North's nuclear
  weapons programs, but Seoul and Washington must
  set "strict standards" to prevent Pyongyang from
  backsliding and repeating its nuclear
  hide-and-seek, a former U.S. point man on North
  Korea said Tuesday. Stephen Bosworth, the Obama
  administration's first special envoy for North
  Korea, also expressed skepticism that China, the
  North's key ally and economic benefactor, would
  wield an enough leverage to persuade Pyongyang to
  give up its nuclear ambition. 

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• Washington's policy of deterring North Korea did
  not work, as Pyongyang conducted its second
  nuclear test in 2009 and revealed a uranium
  enrichment program in 2010 that could give it
  another means of producing fissile material for
  nuclear bombs. In 2010, North Korea launched two
  military attacks on South Korea. "So, I think
  we have no choice but to re-engage ourselves
  (with North Korea)," Bosworth told a forum in
  Seoul. To bring about positive changes in
  Pyongyang's behavior, Bosworth said Seoul and
  Washington need "a very careful diplomacy,
  patience and willingness, not simply to give to
  North Korea, but to set strict standards." 

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• Bosworth was the top U.S. envoy for North Korea
  from March 2009 to October 2011. He also served
  as U.S. ambassador to South Korea and is now dean
  of the Fletcher School at Tufts
  University. Diplomatic efforts to resume the
  six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear
  ambition have been frozen since April, when North
  Korea defiantly launched a long-range rocket that
  failed moments after lift-off. 
• The defiant launch drew strong condemnation from
  the U.N. Security Council as a disguised test of
  ballistic missile technology, and led to the
  collapse of the so-called "Leap Day" deal with
  the U.S., under which Washington would resume
  food aid to Pyongyang in return for a monitored
  shutdown of the North's nuclear activities.

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• Although North Korea reneged on the deal,
  Bosworth expected Korea and the U.S. to resume
  their engagement with Pyongyang after their
  presidential elections this year. U.S.
  President Barack Obama has been in a tight race
  for re-election in November against Republican
  rival Mitt Romney, while South Korea is set for
  its presidential vote in December. "I'm
  assuming that after our elections are over, we'll
  have newly elected governments in place here in
  South Korea and the United States. Then,
  attention will turn again to the question of how
  we will deal with North Korea," Bosworth
  said. Bosworth warned that destabilizing North
  Korea could have serious consequences for the
  global economy. 

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• "Northeast Asia is now becoming the center of the
  global economy," he said. "A severe disruption of
  stability in Northeast Asia will have profound
  consequences not just for this region, but the
  global economy." (Yonhap)