Commentary: Positive inter-Korean momentum demands constructive U.S. role

The foundation for inter-Korean dialogue further firms up on Monday, with South Korean President Park Geun-hye reaffirming her country's open attitude.

All parties pertinent to and with a stake in Korean Peninsula peace and stability, particularly the intransigent United States, need to seize the momentum and join hands to unravel the decades-old predicament.

At a televised press conference, Park urged Pyongyang to respond to Seoul's dialogue offer "without any hesitation," and said she can hold a summit with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) without preconditions "if it helps."

The open-arms overture is the latest of a series of signs that both sides of the 38th parallel north are showing increasing interest in and paving the way for consultation and reconciliation.

In his New Year's address, DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un, while calling on South Korea to halt all provocative war maneuvers, emphasized that there is no reason not to hold bilateral summit talks.

Noting that the tragedy of a split Korean nation cannot be tolerated any more, he pledged to make an all-out effort to promote inter-Korean dialogue and negotiations.

In view of the positive signals of late and the painful fact that more than 60 years after the Korean War the Korean Peninsula remains haunted by the specter of war, it is high time that Pyongyang and Seoul embarked upon the path of rapprochement.

Deep differences rooted in chronic and almost reflexive distrust still stand in the way, as have been demonstrated in the protracted and tortuous Korean Peninsula denuclearization process.

But with good faith and concrete tension-easing and trust-building measures on the part of both sides, divergences can be managed, mitigated and bridged step by step.

Others should help whenever they can. The Korean Peninsula remaining a powder keg poses a grave threat to regional peace and development and plants a ticking bomb under global stability.

That is why Washington's outright refusal to Pyongyang's recent proposal of temporarily suspending nuclear tests in exchange for a halt to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises is especially regrettable and counterproductive.

Whatever concerns the United States has in mind, the proposal and Pyongyang's offer of it merit due consideration. Washington should abandon its parochial interest and revisit its decision, helping build on the positive momentum rather than arresting it.

After all, Washington needs to remember that the crux of the Korean Peninsula problem is the mutual distrust and antagonism between the United States and the DPRK. It bears inescapable responsibility in defusing tension and restoring stability.

The depressing reality that peace has eluded the some 75 million Koreans for more than six decades screams for change and demands that no party waste any chance.

It is highly imperative that Washington carve out some flexibility and summon up more political courage to help turn the flickers of hope on the horizon of the Korean Peninsula into flames of progress. Endi