By Li Hongmei
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ended his Asian tour with an agreement to work with China, Japan and South Korea to lure the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) back into nuclear talks. He also left the door open for a U.S. meeting with Pyongyang when Korean Peninsula is perching at a precarious edge.
"We're prepared to reach out," Kerry told a group of reporters traveling with him in Tokyo yesterday. Any meeting with Kim Jong Un's government would have to be at the "appropriate moment, appropriate circumstance."
Kerry devoted his first foray in Asia as the top U.S. diplomat to calming tensions on the Korean peninsula, an effort that has gained some momentum after China agreed to work together with the U.S. in outlining a road map toward a resolution.
Starting in Seoul and ending in Tokyo, Kerry's mission was geared toward resurrecting nuclear talks with the DPRK that collapsed four years ago. Kerry remained guarded on details and frequently evoked the need for "quiet" diplomacy -- a leitmotif in a trip that also saw him attempt to revive Mideast peace talks -- in order to be effective in breaking "recalcitrant positions."
"I can see a way forward," Kerry explained. "It requires different pieces to fall together."
Kerry also explained the need to keep back-door maneuvers secret to give space for negotiations to pay off.
"Subtlety and definite secrecy and absence of advertisement" are needed in some diplomacy, said Kerry, who was a U.S senator and Vietnam War veteran.
Still, the international community is now focused on whether the DPRK will commemorate April 15 -- the 101st anniversary of state founder Kim Il Sung's birth -- with the test-launch of a missile that may be a potential threat to Japan or even Guam. The region has been on edge since February, when Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations Security Council.
Perhaps, it is too early to conclude Kerry has gained some momentum to chart a new course for Obama's second term in Asia Pacific. But it seems that, in departure from his predecessor Hillary Clinton's toughness, the soft-spoken Kerry is seeking to attain his accomplishment in a totally different way.
On the eve of his April 11 arrival in Seoul, South Korean President Park Geun Hye had invited Pyongyang to resume a conversation. In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan hadn't shut the door on the DPRK and looked to "China to play its role."
For all these diplomatic entreaties, Pyongyang still spurns overtures by its southern neighbor as "empty shell" efforts without content, reported the Korean Central News Agency.
Some specialists on Korea studies believe the coming together of the U.S. and China, economic rivals frequently at odds on foreign policy, has more to do with coaxing Pyongyang to return to the table than it involves piling on pressure.
"China is firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing the denuclearization process on the Korean peninsula," State Councilor Yang Jiechi said late April 13 in translated comments while accompanied by Kerry at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guest House. "The issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue," added Yang, who was foreign minister.
But not a few observers deem Kerry's Asia trip to get Pyongyang back to negotiating table can hardly reap an optimistic result. The tedious back-and-forth will go on for quite some time as the DPRK will not accept all these offers easily.
"It might be a good start if talks between the DPRK and South Korea can firstly resume on normalizing Gaeseong, a jointly run industrial park," said a CCTV commentary.
