Starting the 'Clinton 3rd Term' Plan

US-Korea Communication Channel Activated... Lee In-young Meets Former Defense Secretary Perry

Minister of Unification Lee In-young and Minister of National Defense Seo Wook attended the plenary session of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held at the National Assembly on the 4th, and are seen talking during the meeting. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The government has revealed plans to steer the North Korea policy stance of the incoming Joe Biden U.S. administration toward a "Clinton 3rd term," and various channels of communication between South Korea and the U.S. have begun to operate accordingly. In particular, the meeting between Lee In-young, Minister of Unification, and former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry has drawn attention.

On the 18th, the Ministry of Unification announced that Minister Lee would hold a video conference at his office in the Jongno-gu Government Seoul Office Building with former Secretary Perry and Jeong Se-hyun, Senior Vice Chairman of the National Unification Advisory Council.

Former Secretary Perry was appointed as the North Korea policy coordinator during the Clinton administration in 1998. After reassessing the Korean Peninsula crisis triggered by North Korea's missile test launches, he proposed negotiations with North Korea in 1999, known as the "Perry Process (Perry Report)." Based on this, he directly led negotiations with North Korea and played a key role in thawing North Korea-U.S. relations.

The core of the Perry Process was that if North Korea took measures such as halting missile and nuclear development, economic compensation, normalization of North Korea-U.S. relations, and the establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula would proceed in three stages. In May 1999, Perry visited North Korea, and then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Kim Jong-il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, in Pyongyang. Although North Korea-U.S. diplomatic relations seemed within reach, the Perry Process was halted with the arrival of the George W. Bush administration.

The Perry Process is also interpreted as evidence that South Korea's communication and persuasion efforts with the U.S. can dramatically change U.S. North Korea policy. When the first North Korean nuclear crisis occurred in 1994, Perry was a hawk who argued for bombing the Yongbyon nuclear facility, even at the risk of full-scale war. When Perry visited South Korea, President Kim Dae-jung personally met with him and is known to have persuaded him for over an hour. Later, Lim Dong-won, then Senior Secretary for Foreign Affairs and National Security at the Blue House, also flew to the U.S. and persistently persuaded Perry.

Earlier, Minister Lee also met with Frank Jannuzi, head of the Mansfield Foundation, who visited Korea at the end of last month. Jannuzi served as an aide when Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is considered a Biden associate. A Ministry of Unification official said, "We plan to communicate through various channels with personnel from the incoming U.S. administration whenever possible," signaling active management of South Korea-U.S. communication channels.

The government has expressed expectations that the Biden administration's North Korea policy stance could be a "Clinton 3rd term." At a parliamentary audit on the 23rd of last month, Minister Lee said, "(If Biden is elected) there is a possibility of a 'Clinton 3rd term' for the next administration," adding, "Those policies have rationality, so they deserve attention." President Moon Jae-in also emphasized at a senior secretaries and aides meeting on the 9th that "the U.S. Democratic government has experience closely cooperating and collaborating with South Korea's Democratic government on the peace process."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.