Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan and his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone yesterday agreed to channel joint diplomatic efforts to prevent North Korea from launching a long-distance missile, a move that would further raise regional tension.

The two ministers held a 25-minute phone conversation, during which they also concurred that it would be in violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1718 regardless of whether the North launches a missile, or a satellite as it claims.

Yu`s conversation with Nakasone came following a series of bilateral meetings between high-ranking officials of South Korea and China, and also between China and Japan over the North`s preparations to launch what Seoul and Washington`s intelligence sources believe to be the Taepodong-2 missile. Most officials have voiced concern that the test would violate the resolution adopted shortly days after the North`s first nuclear test calling for the North to refrain from all missile-related activities.

The North`s threats of the test-fire mark an escalating brinkmanship rhetoric towards the South and the United States. Pyongyang has been growing increasingly frustrated with President Lee Myung-bak`s "denuclearization-first" approach, while at the same time seeking the attention of the Barack Obama administration.

Washington has set out to show it would be firm about the test-launch, but not yet ruled out the possibility of normalizing ties with the communist nation. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently officially named former ambassador to South Korea Stephen Bosworth as special envoy to the North for more in-depth discussions.

The government yesterday appointed Wi Sung-lac, special assistant to Foreign Minister Yu, as its new chief envoy on the North Korean nuclear issue, the Foreign Ministry said.

Wi served as minister for political affairs at the South Korean embassy in Washington from 2004-2007 after leading the foreign ministry`s North American affairs bureau from 2003-2004. He is known to be an expert on the U.S. and North Korean nuclear issues.

Wi replaces Kim Sook, who was named deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.

By Kim Ji-hyun



(jemmie@heraldm.com)