North Korea, which winced for a while in the face of the saber-rattling administration of U. S. President George W. Bush, has come up with an audacious challenge, after perceiving that Washington has no choice but seek dialogue with the Pyongyang leadership.

For the past several months since the inauguration of the Bush administration, Pyongyang waited with its fingers crossed for the formulation of the new U. S. government’s policies toward the communist state, based on a comprehensive review of the previous Clinton administration’s policies on North Korea.

President Bush, from the outset of his administration, expressed skepticism about North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and called for principles of strict reciprocity and verification in dealing with the Pyongyang regime. For that matter, the North Korean leaders must have been irritated and resentful toward the Bush government and consequently suspended all levels of the governmental dialogue with the Seoul government.

Following Bush’s formal overture for the resumption of dialogue with the Pyongyang leadership on June 6, the North kept silent for 12 days, until Monday, when it made an official response. As a whole, the North Korean reaction is considered offensive and even provocative, including counterproposals that are hardly acceptable to the Bush administration, despite the fact that the U. S. propositions seem to be more moderate than the North may have anticipated.

In a statement through the North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, issued under the name of the spokesman of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, it called for future talks to give top priority to U. S. compensation for delays in the provision of the nuclear reactors, while refusing to discuss its conventional military forces, contending that the particular proposal is intended to disarm the North.

Of special note, the ministry statement in this connection demanded that the U. S. withdraw its troops from South Korea before proposing negotiations on its conventional arsenal.

In this way, the North’s response, calling the Bush proposals hostile, took formal issue with the U. S. military presence in South Korea, the question which has been carefully avoided during the official talks with Seoul and Washington since the Inter-Korean summit in June last year. No doubt, this hardened North Korean stance could serve as a major stumbling block for the U. S.-North Korea dialogue, having a negative impact on the inter-Korean talks as well.

It is assumed that the North Korean reaction may have been intended to gain the upper hand, or a bargaining chip, in the process of the talks with Washington by demanding the pullout of the U. S. forces from South Korea, which is out of the question for the U.S. under the present circumstances.

The North’s request for compensation for delays in the provision of the nuclear reactors is viewed as reflecting its strategy to gain as many benefits as possible from the United States. Yet, the North will surely find it difficult to attain its objective, noting the U. S. position not to compensate for anything that is concerned with the North’s wrongdoing.

All in all, Washington and Pyongyang have presented some conflicting positions in dealing with their matters of mutual concern. This is to say that the U. S. is pursuing a comprehensive or package settlement of the nuclear, missile and conventional armament problems, while at the same time, moving to verify the North’s implementation of the agreements step by step. This is certain to forestall Pyongyang’s maneuvers to gain benefits in return for partial concessions, in line with its own convenience.

A major point of contention is the North’s desire to resume the suspended talks with Washington from the point where the Joint Communique was issued in October last year, during the visit to Washington by Jo Myong-rok, chief of the North Korean People’s Army. The joint agreement called for military tension reduction and the improvement of bilateral relations. However, the Bush administration maintains the position of making a fresh start, regardless of the past.