Obama’s Message to Pyongyang
Editorial The Hankyoreh
While visiting Burma on November 19, U.S. President Barack Obama sent what appeared to be a special message to North Korea: “Let go of your nuclear weapons and choose the path of peace and progress. If you do, you will find an extended hand from the United States of America.” Obama also said, “We don’t need to be defined by the prisons of the past. We need to look forward to the future.” What he said at the University of Yangon that day is not quite different from what Washington has consistently told Pyongyang thus far. But his latest remarks are all the more significant in that Obama made them in Burma, a country in a political and economic situation similar to the one facing North Korea. In a sense, Obama publicly expressed his intention to introduce a policy of “constructive engagement” vis-a-vis North Korea during his second term in office, breaking away from the “strategic patience” policy of his first term. This merits attention from both Seoul and Pyongyang at a time when the political terrain is changing significantly in countries surrounding the Korean peninsula.
Roughly speaking, North Korea and Burma were in a very similar political and economic situation until recently. Dictatorial regimes isolated from the outside world had stayed in power for a long time and their people had to face unbearable difficulties because of international economic sanctions.