Nicolas Sarkozy is once again wading into international diplomacy. After trying a hand at Mideast peace, raising France's profile on Iran and reaching out to Cuba, he's homing in on another problem long seen as Washington's to solve: North Korea. By sending a special mission to Pyongyang next week, the French president wants to bring new ideas to a stale standoff. Among them, Sarkozy envoy Jack Lang said in an interview, is possible European aid to North Korea in exchange for nuclear guarantees. “No questions are forbidden,” Lang said of his upcoming meetings with senior North Korean officials. He called himself a “soldier of peace.” The mission is all the more urgent after North Korea claimed Tuesday it has finished reprocessing thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods to extract plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile, raising the stakes in an apparent effort to get the US into direct negotiations. – APLang, a former culture minister, seems an unusual choice for the job. However, his leftist background – he was long a prominent Socialist though he has worked on projects for conservative Sarkozy – makes him a somewhat more credible figure for a mission to the Communist state. Critics question whether that's enough of a qualification. Analysts though said Lang's lack of experience in the nonproliferation realm isn't a major handicap, since his task is to feel out diplomats and he can leave technical talk to French government experts. The lively and loquacious 70-year-old has never been to Pyongyang and is best known for his high-profile role championing French theater and arts. He's driven in his mission largely by what he calls “intuition” that change is afoot in the impoverished land often called a hermit nation. “We have the feeling that the lines could move a little,” he said. It's been a rocky year for the six-nation talks aimed at halting North Korea's nuclear weapons program, involving both Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia. Since April, North Korea has launched a long-range rocket, conducted an underground atomic test and abandoned disarmament talks, earning international condemnation and new UN sanctions. North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il recently offered to return to negotiations if the US agrees to one-on-one talks – and Tuesday's announcement appeared aimed at pressing Washington to act fast. Lang's mission looks like a long shot. France has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, one of only two European countries that hasn't recognized Pyongyang. The official goal of Lang's fact-finding mission is to feel out whether both sides are ready to exchange embassies at last. Beyond that, France is hoping to up its diplomatic profile, mark another spot on the globe where French influence is felt. France, untainted by ties to the bloodshed of the Korean War, is hoping to be seen as a neutral, trustworthy player. “I'm overjoyed at France's return” to this region, Lang said. “There's no reason for our country to be completely absent.” He conceded that the mission was met with initial caution in some capitals but insisted that France wasn't stepping on American or other toes. “We are all pulling in the same direction, even if our approaches are not always identical,” he said. The US government has kept silent publicly about Lang's mission. He met in Washington late last month with Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Sung Kim, the US special envoy to the now-suspended six-party talks. The State Department did not comment on the meetings. A Russian diplomat in Paris said the French initiative was welcome as long as it doesn't disrupt the six-country effort. The diplomat said Lang convened ambassadors of the countries involved to explain the mission before Sarkozy announced it publicly. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private. “It's a listening mission,” Lang said. He gave no details about proposals he is bringing to Pyongyang on Monday, except to say that all options are open, including possible European aid. Sarkozy's past diplomatic forays into traditional US territory have had mixed results. His hard line on Iran helped him curry favor with the Bush administration but has raised eyebrows with the Obama administration as it seeks dialogue with Tehran. Sarkozy used personal relationships with Mideast leaders to try to end Israel's Gaza offensive while the US presidential transition left the Americans sidelined. In February, he sent Lang on a special mission to Cuba, as Obama began talking about reaching out to Havana. While Lang says France-Cuba relations have “warmed up” since then, no major policy changes have emerged. Lang's trip to Pyongyang Monday marks the second recent France-North Korea hookup after years of frozen ties. Last month, France hosted North Korea's football team, in a trip organized by a French promoter that led to North Korean calls for diplomatic ties with Paris. Asked why Sarkozy picked this moment for his North Korea mission, Lang brushed off any suggestion that it was aimed at circumventing the United States, saying the French effort was long overdue. “Why not yesterday?” he asked.
