Crisis as a Lever for Korea Talks

North Korea’s food supply system is “perilously close to collapse,” a new U.N. study has found, with most of last year’s shrunken harvest already consumed and many people now subsisting on leaves, grass and roots. Last year Japan donated 500,000 tons of rice to help feed North Korea’s 22 million people, while South Korea contributed 150,000 tons. But now the pipeline is empty, and major donors are in no hurry to offer further help.

That could change if North Korea accepts an American proposal for four-country talks to negotiate a peace treaty to replace the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War. That was the message from a meeting this week of U.S., South Korean and Japanese officials. Pyongyang has been pondering the proposal since last month; officially, it says it will talk about a political settlement only with the United States. Washington rightly insists that only the two Koreas can resolve the fundamental issue of peace on the peninsula, with the United States and China serving as godfathers to any deal. China says it will agree if North Korea does.

Pressure to do something must be building in North Korea. South Korea estimates that as a result of Pyongyang’s failed agricultural policies and last year’s disastrous floods, the North will be short about 2 million tons of grains this year. Meanwhile, lack of fuel has cut factory operations by 70%. North Korea has no money or credit to import food or oil. The United States and Japan both say they have not closed the door to further aid. Along with Seoul, they have made clear that if Pyongyang joins in peace talks aid will quickly follow. The State Department denies there is any link between the U.S. peace initiative and further assistance, but there’s no doubt the connection is there, and for a sound reason. Here is a rare chance to induce North Korea to moderate its inflexible and self-wounding policies. If that happens, the lot of a long-deprived people can only improve.