YONHAP NEWS

(News Focus) S. Korea plays PSI card to counter N. Korea's brinkmanship

   By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's decision to fully participate in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) highlights its own resolve to stand its ground against North Korea's continued provocations and play a bigger role in global security.

   It also represents a major policy U-turn, prompted by North Korea's April 5 rocket launch and nuclear test on Monday, from several years of maintaining a tepid stance toward the U.S.-led campaign to interdict suspected cross-border proliferation activity.

   "(Participation in the PSI) is a natural obligation for a mature country," Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told a parliamentary meeting to discuss the impact of the latest nuclear test. "It will help control North Korea's development of dangerous material."

   Realistically, the PSI is one of the few remaining cards Seoul can play against Pyongyang, as all but one joint venture -- the Kaesong industrial park -- has been shut down since the inauguration of South Korea's conservative Lee Myung-bak administration early last year.

   The Lee government has suspended food and fertilizer assistance for the North. Seoul remains committed to keeping the Kaesong complex alive, as it has invested nearly US$700 million in the project.

   South Korea's role in the PSI is a politically and ideologically sensitive issue. The initiative, primarily aimed at interdicting suspected ships, is not directed at any nation in particular. But North Korea -- notorious for exporting weapons of mass destruction and related materials -- is widely viewed as a main target.

   North Korea has repeatedly warned it would regard the South's participation in the PSI as a declaration of war. That stance made Seoul's former liberal governments reluctant to fully join the effort, opting instead to follow the so-called "sunshine policy" of engaging the communist neighbor.

   South Korea's previous administrations also worried about the possibility of armed conflict if any attempt were made to interdict a North Korean vessel, and limited their participation in the PSI to observing offshore drills.

   The current Lee government faced a similar dilemma. It had planned to declare participation in the PSI shortly after the North's rocket launch in April, but calls for a more cautious approach grew as the Kaesong industrial zone appeared to be in peril. A South Korean worker there continues to be detained by North Korea on allegations he criticized its political system and urged a North Korean woman to defect. Amid such developments, Seoul delayed a formal announcement on the PSI several times.

   The North's nuclear test put an end to the dilemma.

   "As North Korea has conducted a more powerful nuclear test than the previous one and fired missiles, there is no reason to waste time any longer," said Lee Dong-kwan, spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

   Many experts here expressed understanding on the decision, saying it was triggered by North Korea's provocative steps.

   "I think participation in the PSI, albeit late, has become an inevitable choice due to North Korea's nuclear test," Korea University professor Yoo Ho-yeol said.

   Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-hwan agreed. "North Korea provided South Korea with the reason for doing so," he said. "It is seen as reflecting the South Korean government's will to focus on counter-proliferation efforts along with the international community, braving the worsening of inter-Korean relations for the time being at a time when tensions have escalated following North Korea's nuclear test," he added.

   Koh dismissed concerns over an armed clash between the two Koreas due to Seoul's activity for the PSI. "It is likely to play a largely symbolic role around the Korean Peninsula," he said.

   Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, was more skeptical.

   "South Korea's tit-for-tat action is expected to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula, not to mention entirely cut off inter-Korean relations," he said.

   He said the North may try armed conflict in the West Sea or test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile at an early date in response.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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