South Korean Ambassador to the United States Sung-Joo Han spoke at Georgetown on Tuesday on the nuclear standoff between North and South Korea and its impact on the region.

Sung-Joo called the recent crisis “the most pressing issue on the Korean peninsula,” adding that it could completely disrupt regional stability.

Nonetheless, “the fundamentals between North and South Korea have not changed,” he said. This lack of change suggests a greater prospect for cooperation between the two regions even though North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear arms effectively breaks its pledge to not seek weapons under the 1994 Agreed Framework.

Sung-Joo, the former South Korean Foreign Minister, was instrumental in negotiating the 1994 Agreed Framework with Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service Dean Robert Gallucci. Sung-Joo also teaches extensively and is regarded as an expert on the political situation in the Korean peninsula.

Sung-Joo said he viewed the nuclear standoff with both “optimism and pessimism,” contrasting the regime of Pyongyang today from that of six years ago.

Negotiators must walk a thin line, he said, because “there is no [longer] a constraining force” to prevent North Korean hardliners who are vigorously pushing for a nuclear weapons. At the same time, he said, North Korea has been encouraged by nations such as India and Pakistan who tested nuclear weapons in 1998, crushing the precedent against the proliferation of third world nations.

Sung-Joo said that there was more communication, however, between North Korea and South Korea. A recent summit between the leaders of the two nations helped facilitate dialogue for the first time in several years. In contrast to the past, Sung-Joo said that “chances are much greater [now] than before for cooperation.”

Sung-Joo called on the United States to help mediate the crisis and said that the United States has a special interest in seeking cooperation between North and South Korea because the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 has forced its policy to focus on minimizing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

“The U.S. in 2003 is just as concerned about nuclear weapons being transferred to terrorists groups from the North Korean program,” he said.

On the prospect of future talks, Sung-Joo said that North Koreans favor bilateral talks, although a “multilateral format [between Japan, China, Russia, the United States and South Korea] is here to stay.” Sung-Joo said that all of these countries want to prevent nuclear weapons on the peninsula, including China who wants a conflict-free Korean peninsula due to a mutual defense treaty it signed with the nation.

Sung-Joo said that Japan was most concerned with being “directly threatened by North Korean missiles” and in the wake of a North Korean nuclear program would “inevitably be involved in a debate to arm itself with nuclear weapons.”

Sung-Joo also said that while relations have improved between North and South Korea, there still remain key obstacles to an agreement. The most contentious issue is whether North Korea should offer a security guarantee and how this guarantee would be implemented. Additionally, he said he was worried about whether it was possible to verify North Korea’s compliance to dismantling its nuclear program.

On the issue of possible motives for its program, Sung-Joo said that the program could be a tool to extract political concessions from its neighbors and international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank.

“North Korea is economically vulnerable,” he said. “It has been placing new emphasis on economic development.”

North Korea could be using the standoff in order to gain a diplomatic edge on its democratic neighbor South Korea, he added. Either way, nuclear weapons will play a critical role in North Korea’s foreign policy.

“North Korea’s stance [toward the United States and other nations] is very much linked to its nuclear program,” he said.

Despite this connection to the United States, Sung-Joo told the audience that a burden remains on the other nations to be cooperative with North Korea and reward the nation well if it complies.

“History is replete with cases when security is attained through a strong economy and international cooperation,” he said.

He concluded by highlighting that a solution can only be achieved with cooperation and, above all, tolerance among nations during the stand off.

“There needs to be patience,” Sung-Joo said. “It is a very hard road ahead.”