The Two Koreas_ A Contemporary History - Don Oberdorfer [221]
North-South relations and U.S.-ROK relations were still tense when President Clinton met President Kim Young Sam on the occasion of the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Manila on November 24. As a result of negotiations before the meeting, the two sides agreed on a three-paragraph statement that avoided the word, "apology," which Kim Young Sam had been demanding, but that called on the North "to take acceptable steps" to resolve the submarine incident, reduce tension, and avoid provocations in the future. Three days after the meeting, however, in the face of criticism that he had given in to Clinton, Kim reverted to his demand for a full-scale apology.
The most important exchange of the meeting took place in a private conversation between Clinton and Kim in a corner away from most of their aides. Clinton bluntly sought to obtain an ironclad commitment that South Korean forces would not initiate military action against the North without American consent. A senior ROK official who participated in the summit told me he believed Clinton had been reassured by Kim's remarks, but an American official said Kim's reaction had still left room for doubt.
Three months later, after Clinton began a new presidential term with a new foreign policy team, Kim moved preemptively to resolve the issue. During his first meeting with Madeleine Albright in late February, Kim began by volunteering that the new secretary of state could be assured that no South Korean military action would be undertaken without full coordination with the United States. Albright crossed it off her list of issues to discuss. General Tilelli said later he was completely satisfied there would be no unilateral military action on the part of ROK forces. Nevertheless, the top-level exchanges over the issue demonstrated how strained and mistrustful U.S. relations with South Korea had become.
In the wake of the Manila meeting of Clinton and Kim, the United States renewed its efforts to obtain a settlement of the submarine issue. Mark Minton, the State Department country director for Korea, met North Korea's director general of American affairs, Lee Hyong Chol on nine separate days in December to hammer out a multifaceted accord.
On December 29, North Korea issued a statement of "deep regret" for the submarine incursion and a pledge that "such an incident will not recur." Pyongyang also agreed to attend the long-offered joint U.S.-ROK briefing on the four-power peace talks. As part of a package accord, Washington agreed to resume the supply of heavy fuel oil, and Seoul removed its objections to continued work on the lightwater nuclear reactors promised under the 1994 Agreed Framework accord. North Korea, in turn, permitted work to resume on preserving the fuel rods that had been unloaded from the Yongbyon reactor. In a last-minute accord arranged by the United States, South Korea agreed to return the remains of the North Korean personnel killed in the submarine incursion. When the transfer took place at Panmunjom, DPRK officials were shocked to find that they received only cremated ashes. U.S. officers believed the bodies were too riddled with bullets to be presentable.
Diplomatic delegations from the United States and the two Koreas met in New York in March 1997 for the "joint briefing," the first such talks about peace on the peninsula ever held among these three parties. Following this, higher-level diplomats from the three nations, plus a delegation from China, met in Geneva in December 1997 to officially begin the four-party peace talks that had been proposed the previous year. A second four-party meeting was held in Geneva in March 1998. The meetings quickly bogged down over procedural issues, but all sides agreed to continue the discussions in hopes