SEOUL -- If the two Koreas agree on anything, it is that the reconciliation process is theirs alone to decide. So what were the EU president and the Swedish prime minister doing in Pyongyang and Seoul recently?

Nothing less than trying to jump start a flagging inter-Korean effort. And, paradoxically, what were they told in Pyongyang? That it's up to Washington to complete its policy review and re-engage. The blunt message was: "We'll talk to Seoul only after Washington talks to us first." Whether there is a second summit in Seoul will be decided in Washington and by Washington. If all this sounds a bit confusing, it is.

The encounter in Pyongyang was significant for all the parties concerned, especially the United States and South Korea. The former, locked in a war of words with Pyongyang that undercuts and threatens to displace the South's Sunshine Policy, appears nonplussed but actually harbors some concern that its leverage could be undercut by the European Union playing the role of good Samaritan. The EU, however, has functioned more as a conduit than a surrogate. And while it broke new ground -- hosting a lunch in Pyongyang for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and then being toasted at dinner in Seoul by South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, all on the same day -- success will turn on whether any reconciliation results.