North Korea Pursuing More Practical Line

North Korea has demonstrated a marked shift at every critical juncture of its nuclear standoff with the United States, taking a more practical line in dealing with its Cold War foe.

The latest example came from the North`s announcement Saturday that it would consider U.S. President Bush`s offer of a multilateral security guarantee while abandoning its insistence on a bilateral nonaggression treaty.

North Korea had earlier stuck to one-on-one negotiations with the United States in finding a solution to the nuclear tension, but dropped the demand to agree on the six-way dialogue that also included South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

Experts here expected North Korea would continue to follow its more standard course, through ups and downs, because of its need to ameliorate ties with Washington to develop its dire economy.

"Pyongyang has become more practical under the Kim Jong-il regime. It recognizes the nuclear deadlock would only worsen its economy and work against other pending matters," said Kim Yeon-chul, fellow at the Asiatic Research Center of Korea University.

Kim said North Korea has received some clues from the U.S. side that can help the North to soften its stance without losing face, despite its run-of-the-mill tactic of raising the tension with threatening statements.

Prof. Kim Keun-sik at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of Kyungnam University also agreed that North Korea would ease the tension if it believes the United States relaxes its hostile policy toward the communist country.

"North Korea strives to receive security assurances and economic assistance from the United States, which are crucial for the survival of its regime," Prof. Kim said.

In spite of its harsh rhetoric, North Korea has taken a realistic approach at the same time it was butting heads with the United States over the past year.

Since the nuclear dispute erupted last October, North Korea insisted bilateral relations between Pyongyang and Washington was the only way to solve the issue.

But it abandoned its demand on April 12 to set the table for trilateral nuclear talks on April 23-26 where the two sides sat face-to-face for the first time to discuss the ongoing nuclear tension with the presence of China.

Another four months followed the trilateral meeting as North Korea renewed its calls for bilateral talks with the United States.

Then it changed its stance, announcing July 31 of its acceptance of six-way talks with the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

During and after their first talks in Beijing in late August, the six countries made little progress in their efforts for the nuclear conundrum because the North stuck to a legally binding nonaggression treaty. The United States rebuffed this as a treaty that requires Senate ratification.

U.S. officials said Washington might offer multilateral assurances that North Korea would not fall under U.S. attack, but the North said any multilateral pledge would be a only a "blank piece of paper."

North Korea signaled a change in the nuclear standoff last week by saying it was "ready to consider Bush`s remarks on the written assurances of nonaggression if they are based on the intention to coexist."

Analysts said North Korea might find it difficult to drag on the nuclear standoff any longer.

"North Korea might think it can raise its stakes while increasing the tension, but the current situation now is much worse for it to just buy its time," Kim of Korea University said.