Korea peace talks welcome

The surprise announcement that Washington and Pyongyang have agreed to hold peace talks is welcome news for the region. Though it is still too early to say whether North Korea's olive branch will bear fruit, the gesture itself is heartening.

In recent days the region watched with dismay as the two sides bickered over Washington's refusal to extradite a top North Korean diplomat who defected to the United States late last month.

It would be a mistake to read too much into the news that North Korea has now agreed to attend next week's preliminary four-party peace talks in New York together with China, the US and South Korea. But a door has, at least, been opened. Will this in turn open new opportunities for peace and change on the Korean Peninsula? Or will a familiar pattern be repeated as the talks collapse amid rancor and ideological bloody-mindedness? Military officials in Seoul insist that Pyongyang has never changed its dual mentality policy, continuing preparations for military provocations while employing ostensibly peaceful offensives.

It was reported earlier this month that North Korea had deployed more than 80 percent of its military might forward along the Demilitarized Zone, thus making it possible to quickly mount a surprise attack against the South.

As a result, Seoul's early warning capability has been reduced from the previous 48-hour advance sounding to a mere 24 hours. It is up to the rest of the world, and particularly the countries of this region, to convince the North Koreans that a genuinely peaceful approach is the only way to bail them out of their current self-destructive predicament.

We must hope that there will be no more hitches to the peace talks. Any solution to the dangerous situation on the Korean Peninsula will go a long way towards reducing tensions in the region.

-- The Hong Kong Standard