SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter bolstered his credentials as a messenger of peace by defusing the first nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula more than a decade ago, but his latest mission to help ease tensions and revive stalled nuclear disarmament talks received cool reactions in Seoul.
His dwindling political stature was in full display this week when he failed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during his three-day trip to Pyongyang along with three former European leaders, despite his unveiled wish for a meeting.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (R) listens to South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan before a dinner in Seoul on April 28. (Yonhap) |
Instead, Carter on Thursday read a message allegedly sent by Kim at a news conference in Seoul, prodding critics to taunt him for being a "spokesman" of the North Korean regime.
"On his latest trip to Pyongyang, Carter hurt his own reputation and weakened his influence by turning a blind eye to North Korea's human rights abuses," Cho Young-gi, a Korea University professor, said in a newspaper column published on Friday.
"Carter even blamed South Korea for the worsening food crisis in the North. After arriving in Seoul, he merely played a role of a spokesman for North Korea by delivering the North Korean leader's message."
Reflecting the widespread cynicism towards the former U.S. leader, his request for a meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was also spurned, though he met with South Korea's foreign minister and unification minister after flying from Pyongyang on Thursday.
Carter came to Seoul with Kim's personal message for dialogue with South Korea, the United States and other regional powers involved in talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambition and other issues.
In the written message read to Carter by a senior North Korean official, Kim also proposed holding a summit meeting with Lee, saying he is prepared to meet directly with the South Korean president at any time to discuss any subject.
Seoul quickly downplayed Kim's overture for dialogue.
"There is a consensus that there is nothing new in Kim's message and the North should speak to Seoul directly if it has anything to say," said a South Korean government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the office policy.
South Korea's Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan has also said there is no need for the North to send a message through a third party or civilians, citing various inter-Korean dialogue channels.
Another South Korean official involved in efforts to revive the nuclear talks also said the North Korean leader's message for a summit meeting is not new, though he urged Pyongyang to follow through with "concrete" action to make such a meeting possible.
The official, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, declined to elaborate on steps that the North should take. But he said he understands the prospect of a third summit between the divided Koreas is looming, describing it as "positive." The leaders of the two Koreas held summits in 2000 and 2007.
Still, Carter's trip generated cynical and cool reactions in South Korea, where animosity and suspicion against North Korea still linger over Pyongyang's two deadly attacks on the South last year that killed 50 people.
Major South Korean newspapers carried editorials critical of Carter, saying his trip was short of expectations and his role on the Korean Peninsula was over.
"The reason Carter received a cold reaction is that he failed to meet with Kim Jong-il and the outcome of his trip was not big," said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, also echoed disappointment on Carter's trip for lack of accomplishment, though he said Carter's efforts should be positively evaluated.
Carter, who campaigned for peace and human rights for years, has ironically become the subject of condemnation of American human rights activists for allegedly appeasing a dictator who has killed millions of North Koreans.
"We are ashamed to see a former American president, who claims to care about human rights, now attempting to prolong the Korean War by serving as a mouthpiece for the Kim Jong-il regime," the activists said in a statement. They are visiting Seoul for a series of events highlighting North Korea's dismal human rights record.
Seoul has pressed Pyongyang to take responsibility for its two deadly attacks on the South before improving relations between the two sides, which are still technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
Carter said in a news conference in Seoul on Thursday that North Korean officials have expressed "deep" regrets for the deaths last year of South Koreans blamed on the North, but argued Pyongyang would never claim responsibility.
The North's refusal to take responsibility for the two deadly provocations has hindered diplomatic efforts to revive the disarmament-for-aid talks that have been stalled since 2008. The talks include the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan.
"In the long run, the only way to deal with North Korea is to compromise and talk and provide aid to Pyongyang," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul. But he said he did not think that such an approach has many chances to succeed in the current climate.
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