美国国家公共电台 NPR Pence Starts Asia Trip Amid Signs Of Strain With South Korea

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ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Vice¹ President Pence has started his five-day trip in Asia. The idea is to highlight two longstanding alliances the U.S. has in the region and send a message to North Korea. The alliance with one Asian partner is smoother than the other. His first stop today was Japan, and NPR's Elise Hu has more.

ELISE HU, BYLINE²: Vice President Mike Pence landed here in Tokyo to begin a tour with two stops - Japan and then South Korea for the opening of the Winter Olympics. Both countries are considered cornerstones of the U.S. security and economic relationships in Asia.

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VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: I look forward to reinforcing the important priority that President Trump³ and the United States places on the relationship with these two nations.

HU: But because of North Korea, there are signs these relationships seem to be going in different directions. The U.S., led by Donald Trump, and Japan, led by Shinzo Abe, both favor hard-line policies toward Pyongyang. Earlier today, Pence announced the U.S. would again ramp⁴ up economic sanctions aimed at starving the North Korean regime of resources. Koichi Nakano of Tokyo's Sophia University says the U.S. and Japan have stayed in lockstep in this approach.

KOICHI NAKANO: It's all about pressure. It's all about military might and strong posture⁵ and very negative about dialogue.

HU: South Korea, the other longtime ally, is trying the dialogue route. It's engaged with North Korea frequently in this new year all in an effort to eventually talk toward peaceful resolutions to the nuclear and missile problem here.

NAKANO: South Koreans are increasingly feeling that the U.S. and Japan are being unrealistic in just sort of, you know, choosing the hardline vis-a-vis North Korea.

DAVID STRAUB: There, there are some significant differences.

HU: David Straub is a Northeast Asia specialist and a 30-year veteran of the State Department.

STRAUB: Under the best of circumstances, it's going to be incredibly hard to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons short of the use of military force. So we need everybody working together. And currently, the United States and South Korea are not entirely⁶ working together.

HU: Signs of strain show up as South Korea pushes ahead with what it wants to call the Peace Olympics, which start Friday. At the same time, the U.S. vice president is sharpening rhetoric⁷ against the North.

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PENCE: We'll be there to cheer on our American athletes, but we'll also be there to stand with our allies and remind the world that North Korea is the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet.

HU: Nakano says this kind of relationship tension among U.S. allies helps North Korea.

NAKANO: North Korea has been always good at sort of dividing and conquering and making advances. And so what North Korea would not want to have is a united front against it.

HU: Pence said in Tokyo the three allies still stand shoulder to shoulder. But in practice, there's distance among them. South Korea and Japan are still working on unresolved issues dating back to the beginning of the last century. All the while, the three countries must together confront a North Korea problem that David Straub says really hasn't changed.

STRAUB: The two Koreas have not made any real progress yet. I mean, this is just simply a matter of allowing the North Koreans to participate in an Olympics in which they've basically not qualified⁸.

HU: He says the real test will come later.

STRAUB: What really matters I think is what will happen after the Olympics and the Paralympics here in Korea are over.

HU: That's when the U.S. and South Korea are expected to start up joint⁹ military exercises again. North Korea calls these war games provocations¹⁰. South Korea says its relationship with the North is fragile, so keeping the peace will require careful coordination¹¹. Elise Hu, NPR News, Tokyo.