High-level talks break ice with North Korea

Date: 07/01/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE EU is taking its first faltering steps towards bringing the Communist state of North Korea in from the cold in a bid to stave off a military and humanitarian disaster in the divided peninsula.

There has been a flurry of high-level meetings between the two sides in recent weeks. In December, the first political contact between the Union and the People's Republic occurred when EU officials met their North Korean counterparts in Brussels. Later in the month, a European Parliament delegation visited the sealed-off state to raise concerns about human rights and discuss the country's worsening food crisis.

The European Commission is also on the verge of approving a second €30-million aid package to North Korea, in addition to the €15 million per year earmarked for cleaning up the country's decrepit nuclear power plants.

In a recent policy paper, the institution described North Korea as "the most unpredictable and impenetrable state in the world". Ruled by a megalomaniac Stalinist despot, the country is one of the poorest in Asia. With its million-strong army on permanent war footing and a suspected stockpile of nuclear weapons at its disposal, it is also one of the most dangerous.

The Commission described the Korean peninsula as a "security flashpoint of global concern" and warned that a military crisis would have "far-reaching consequences in the region and beyond".

At present, the EU has no diplomatic relations with North Korea. However, as the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the country, it has both an economic and strategic interest in establishing some form of contact with the Pyong-Yang regime. Hence the recent meeting between Union and North Korean officials in Brussels.

One participant described the encounter as "fairly cordial but not without its uncomfortable moments". The Koreans raised the possibility of setting up an office in Brussels - an idea supported by the Parliament delegation but cold-shouldered by Council of Ministers and Commission representatives - and expressed the hope that both talks and aid would continue in the future.

For their part, EU officials raised concerns about nuclear safety, human rights abuses and suspected missile developments in the Communist state.

Although officials believe isolating North Korea will only make it more dangerous, no further meetings have been planned. "We are being clear-headed about this," said one. "We don't expect an overnight change and are conscious of the risk of being manipulated. So we are proceeding in a very cautious way."

The parliamentary delegation, composed of UK Socialist MEP Glyn Ford, Dutch Liberal Laurens Jan Brinkhorst and Belgian Christian Democrat Leo Tindemans, has taken a slightly less timid approach.

In a report on their mid-December visit, the MEPs have called on the Union to play a "catalytic" role in opening up the country. Amongst their suggestions are that the EU should set up a liaison office in Pyong-Yang and that North Korean parliamentarians should visit the Strasbourg- based assembly.