'Last Chance' Deal in North and South Korea Relations

摘要

Washington and Seoul are engaged in six-nation negotiations along with Russia, China and Japan, as well as North Korea, aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programmes. The talks are in a stalemate over ways to verify North Korea's declared nuclear activities. At the same time, relations between North and South Korea have worsened since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office last year, vowing to take a harder stance against the North over the nuclear disarmament issue.rnRecently, however, South Korea's president offered North Korea a "grand bargain" in which the North would receive much-needed economic assistance in return for giving up its nuclear programme. The deal may be impoverished North Korea's last chance to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid, President Lee Myung-bak said during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 21.