WASHINGTON - The leaders of South Korea and the U.S. pledged Tuesday united, stern action against any provocation by North Korea while leaving the door open for dialogue.

During their first summit, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for President Park Geun-hye’s trustpolitik policy of reengaging the North and deterring its military threat.

The leaders also adopted a joint declaration in commemoration of the two countries’ 60-year-old alliance to set the new direction for a broader cooperation in security, economics, culture, regional and global issues.

“Building on the past sixty years of stability on the Korean peninsula, we continue to strengthen and adapt our alliance to serve as a linchpin of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and to meet the security challenges of the 21st century,” the joint statement said.

The two governments have recently started calling their alliance a “linchpin” for peace in the region to emphasize its heightened strategic importance.

At a press briefing held after their summit talks, both Park and Obama reaffirmed their robust alliance against provocations and called for Pyonygyang to change.

“Seoul and Washington will work jointly to encourage North Korea to make the right choice through multifaceted efforts, including the implementation of the Korean peninsula trust process,” Park said.

Echoing Park, Obama said, “President Park’s approach is very compatible with my approach and the approach that we have been taking together for several years now,” to a question about his stance on Park’s trustpolitik.

Calling it the "exactly right approach," Obama said, "The key is that we will be prepared for a deterrence; that we will respond to aggression; that we will not reward provocative actions; but that we will maintain an openness to an engagement process when we see North Korea taking steps that would indicate that it is following a different path."

They also emphasized their commitment to joint efforts to bring peace, stability and, ultimately, peaceful reunification of the two Koreas, and reaffirmed that their alliance and the solid defense strategy of the U.S. are the core axes of Asia-Pacific region’s peace and prosperity, South Korea’s presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung explained.

Over the last six decades, the alliance has evolved into a multifaceted relationship covering areas of antiterrorism, climate change, nonproliferation and other regional and global challenges.

The two countries “will continue to work through the alliance to bring North Korea in to compliance with its international obligations and promote peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula, including through the trust-building process initiated by President Park,” the statement said.

Park flew to the U.S. last Sunday on her first overseas trip since her February inauguration, stopping first in New York to meet Korean-Americans and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Park touched down in Washington on Tuesday, Korea time, and paid tribute to U.S. war veterans.

Park and Obama’s summit talks were held in the midst of high-strung security tension on the Korean Peninsula as Pyongyang continued its saber-rattling against Seoul-Washington joint military drills, although in recent weeks, Pyongyang was seen to tone down its belligerence such as by being appeared to roll back two Musadan missiles from their coastal launching sites according to U.S. officials.

”We‘re not going to reward provocative behavior,“ Obama said. ”But we remain open to the prospect of North Korea taking a peaceful path of denuclearization, abiding by international commitments, rejoining the international community and seeing a gradual progression in which both security and prosperity for the people of North Korea can be achieved."

Park and Obama also discussed a need to forge multinational approach to bring peace and stability in the region, such as through Park’s proposal to establish the Northeast Asia initiative similar to the Helsinki process of Europe in the 1970s.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, who accompanied Park in the summit talks, explained that the two presidents shared views on the importance of close cooperation among the regional players, and gave positive evaluations of China’s recent role over North Korea problem.

"Such constructive efforts on the part of China and Russia are vital to sending a unified message to North Korea that their nuclear weapons will not stand, and encouraging and urging North Korea to make the right decision," Park said at the press conference, referring to the two countries’ active participation in the U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear tests.

While the two presidents reaffirmed their unfaltering commitment to their decades-strong alliance, they also bypassed several sticking points including the negotiations over the so-called burden-sharing cost for stationing 28,500 U.S. troops on the peninsula.

Over the politically sensitive issue of revising the bilateral civilian nuclear energy pact, Obama said he welcomed the provisional agreement on extending Seoul and Washington’s bilateral accord on nuclear energy use under the consideration that a peaceful use of nuclear energy was important for the South.

During their talks, Park pitched the importance and urgency of South Korea being able to reprocess the spent fuel rods as its storage space for nuclear waste is running short. She also explained a need to secure stable supply of nuclear energy and to gain competitiveness in exporting nuclear energy as the world’s top five nuclear power producing countries, Yun said.

Seoul wants to gain U.S. consent to its spent fuel reprocessing and is seeking more efficient use of nuclear energy. The U.S., however, is concerned about proliferation.

Obama expressed confidence about future negotiation, saying at the press conference, "I believe that we can find a way to support South Korea’s energy and commercial needs even as we uphold our mutual commitments to prevent nuclear proliferation."

Underscoring that the safety of the people was top priority, Park also mentioned the suspended Gaeseong industrial park, which was the last-remaining inter-Korean project, as one of the examples of how Pyongyang’s provocation would be responded. After North Korea pulled out all of its workers from the complex last month and refused Seoul’s call to discuss the issue, the Park government also decided to withdraw all the remaining South Korean workers for sake of safety.

On global challenges, the presidents agreed to work on intensifying their partnership on climate change, Middle East issues and helping developing countries under the theme of “sharing and caring.”

While reaffirming their commitment to wider economic cooperation including a faithful implementation of the free trade agreement, the two presidents also agreed to start discussing how to create momentum of new growth engines.

For this, South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick and U.S. counterpart Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman signed a joint statement for comprehensive energy cooperation.

The energy cooperation will include exchanges of technology and information on shale gas, expanding cooperation related to gas hydrates, and joint research on clean energy. South Korea is set to host the fifth international ministerial-level talks on clean energy in 2014.

On the ICT front, Seoul and Washington will host vice-ministerial talks regulatory and support the rapid distribution of the U.S.’ information and communications technology and South Korean ICT businesses’ advance into the U.S.

Other agreements included extending the Work, English Study, Travel program in support of exchanges between university students and common approach to climate change threats.

A memorandum of understanding between the Korea Overseas International Cooperation Association and the U.S. Peace Corp. was also signed to foster a synergy effect.

After the summit talks, Park is scheduled to deliver a speech before the joint congress and promote Korea’s investment environment to U.S. businesses, accompanied by one of the largest business delegation.

On Monday, Park reiterated her resolve to have North Korea renounce its nuclear program and pay for any future provocations.

During her talks with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, she also said Seoul was ready to support the impoverished state should it opt for a path of coprosperity on the peninsula.

“The reason I am pushing for the Korean Peninsula trust process is that we can never tolerate North Korea’s nuclear programs. There can never be any reward for North Korean provocations, and we will make them pay if they launch attacks,” she said.

The trust process refers to her signature initiative seeking to enhance inter-Korean relations through dialogue while maintaining a robust deterrence.

Referring to the North’s recent adoption of a policy seeking to concurrently develop its economy and nuclear weapons, she said the two objectives were not compatible.

“It is regrettable that Pyongyang is going in the opposite direction when it can take a path of coprosperity on which the U.N., South Korea and the international community can help it, should it come forward as a responsible member of the community,” she said.

In an earlier interview with CBS, she called on the North to change.

“I would tell (North Korean leader Kim Jong-un) that North Korea must change. That it is the only way for it to survive and the only way to development,” she said.

“North Korea made the provocation. This is followed by negotiation and assistance, and so we saw an endless situation of this vicious cycle. And it is time for us to put an end to that cycle.” 


By Lee Joo-hee
Korea Herald correspondent
(jhl@heraldcorp.com)