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By Tong Kim
North Korea has launched a fresh round of peace offensive, proposing talks with the United States and reopening consultation with China, even after the talks with South Korea fell apart on June 12 over disagreement on the level of representation of inter-Korean delegations. The peace offensive is taking place in Beijing and New York, and it will probably continue elsewhere at least until the next combined U.S.-South Korea military exercises in August.
Washington has so far rejected Pyongyang’s offer, demanding “meaningful actions” by North Korea to show its seriousness for denuclearization. South Korea, Japan and the U.S, through a trilateral meeting in Washington, agreed to require North Korea to meet stricter conditions for resuming nuclear talks, which may include a moratorium on the North’s nuclear and missile test and re-invitation of IAEA inspectors as once agreed in the Feb. 29 agreement of 2011. They do not believe that resumption of multilateral talks would be productive unless the North is serious about denuclearization.
In May vice marshal Choe Ryong-hae, political chief of the North Korean Army, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the capacity of an envoy from Pyongyang. Xi stressed that denuclearization should be achieved through six-party talks, and Choe assured that the North would engage relevant parties in dialogue to resolve the disputes. North Korea’s proposal for the aborted inter-Korean talks was made only days after Choe’s visit to Beijing.
Last week first vice foreign minister Kim Gye-gwan, a veteran North Korean nuclear negotiator, was in Beijing, meeting separately with vice foreign minister Zhang Yesui, foreign minister Wang Yi, and state councilor for foreign affairs Yang Jiechi. Kim was quoted by Xinhua News Agency, “The DPRK maintains dialogues in settling the nuclear issue and welcomes all forms of talks, including six-party talks.”
It appears that Beijing and Pyongyang have agreed to mend their strained relations following the North’s last rocket launch and nuclear test. Yang said, “China is ready to work with the DPRK to promote the sound and stable development of bilateral relations.” Yang added, “China calls for dialogue and consultation among all concerned to resolve the nuclear issue.”
To the Chinese interlocutors, Kim Gye-gwan explained Pyongyang’s proposal of talks with Washington to discuss diffusing tension on the Korean Peninsula, replacing the “armistice system with a peace mechanism, and building of a world without nuclear weapons.” The proposal invoked the behests of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung and its late leader Kim Jong-il who had said the denuclearization of the peninsula was their wishes. These wishes had not been mentioned for a long time. Pyongyang has also said building a nuclear deterrent was Kim Jong-il’s wish.
Friday morning in New York, DPRK Ambassador to the United Nations Sin Son-ho repeated Pyongyang’s offer for talks, while blaming the U.S. for tensions that “could lead to war at anytime.” Sin also demanded the abolishment of the United Nations Command in Korea and lifting of U.N. and U.S. sanctions against his country, which seem to have started biting with active Chinese participation. He reaffirmed that Pyongyang would never give up its nuclear weapons in the face of U.S. threats and the international sanctions.
On the coming anniversary of the Korean armistice agreement on July 27, the North Korean Army representative at Panmunjom is expected to issue another harsh memorandum of record to denounce perceived U.S. nuclear threats, to demand dismantlement of the United Nations Command, and to call for a new peace agreement. The current armistice system, which the North has said was nullified on several occasions in the past, still serves as a functioning arrangement to maintain the ceasefire, as it is being observed by the South and the U.S.
A close look at the June 16 proposal of talks by the North Korean National Defense Commission, issued with personal authorization of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, shows the North’s interest to discuss a peace agreement with the United States and to negotiate the nuclear issue as part of President Obama’s vision for a world without nuclear weapons. While the North’s offer is not conditional, its denuclearization is contingent upon removal of “hostile U.S. threats.” If the North plans to keep nuclear weapons until the world becomes free of them, North Korean denuclearization will never be realized.
Mindful of the agreement between Obama and Xi on June 7 in California not to accept a nuclear North Korea and to cooperate on the denuclearization of North Korea, Pyongyang declared, “The DPRK will go on as a nuclear weapons state without hesitation, whether others recognize it or not, until the whole Korean Peninsula is denuclearized and nuclear threats from outside are put to an end.” Pyongyang knows U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn in 1991, but it fears that U.S. strategic weapons would be quickly mobilized to Korea, as demonstrated during the last U.S.-South Korea exercises.
Seoul and Washington say they do not want “talks for the sake of talks,” which would only give the untrustworthy North Koreans time to perfect their nuclear technology and increase their arsenal. This kind of concern comes from bad experiences with the North Korans and a zero level of trust in them. If all sides are genuinely interested in resolving the nuclear issue by dialogue, they should start talking to one another toward a common direction.
As for inter-Korean talks, the North says the ball is in the South’s court, but the South is hung up with the matter of format rather than substance. At the end of any negotiation, substance counts. Anyhow, watching the talking about talks is far more comforting than hearing about threats of war. What’s your take?
The writer is a research professor at the Illmin Institute of International Relations at Korea University and a visiting professor at the University of North Korean Studies. He is also an ICAS fellow. Reach him at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.