Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Complete inventory report by North Korea unlikely
GETTYIMAGESBANK
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
North Korea is likely to open up only a few of its nuclear facilities and agree with the United States to initiate verification progress for dismantlement of these facilities, analysts said Sunday.
The forecast came as talks about a second summit between Pyongyang and Washington focus on the details of the former's denuclearization next month. Multiple reports have the two sides meeting for second summit sometime next month.
For months after the first summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, the U.S. had insisted on the North submitting a full list of its nuclear inventory, as it would consider this the first step in complete nuclear disarmament
However, North Korea is known to have refused this, as it believes exposing all its nuclear facilities entails security concerns. After a months-long deadlock over the denuclearization steps Pyongyang should take, Washington appears to have taken a more flexible approach.
“The U.S. appears to have accepted the North's stance that it is problematic to report all of its nuclear facilities,” Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said. “From last October, Washington appears to have been focusing on the shutdown and verification of the North's Yongbyon nuclear facility.”
Yongbyon is known to be a key nuclear facility. An agreement reached between the North Korean leader and President Moon Jae-in in September stated Yongbyon would be permanently shuttered if the U.S. took corresponding measures.
Shin noted that a report would be meaningless if verification does not take place.
“North Korea's denuclearization would depend on whether it would agree to the U.S. collecting samples that could verify the shutdown of its facilities.”
Professor Park Won-gon of Handong Global University agreed. “South Korea has explained that it would be unrealistic to demand North Korea to report all of its facilities, and so it appears the U.S. has taken a step back from calling for a complete nuclear inventory,” he said.
“Yonbyon has 390 buildings and the North has acknowledged the complex as its key nuclear facility. The focus is likely to be on verifying dismantlement of places such as Yongbyon.”
The analysts also said the U.S. appears to be focusing on the North freezing its nuclear activities. Pyongyang is known to have been continuing these so far.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News, “Reducing the threat from North Korea, whether that's by our success to date in stopping their missile testing, and stopping their nuclear testing, those are the important elements.”
Meanwhile, a report by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun stated the U.S. proposed holding the second summit in Vietnam in mid-February. The North has not yet responded, it said.
The Vietnamese government is reported to have conveyed its wish to host the summit. Other Asian countries including Mongolia, Indonesia and Thailand have also been brought up as candidates.
Lee Hae-chan, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said at a press conference held Sunday that the second North Korea-U.S. summit would likely take place next month. He added that a ministerial-level meeting between the countries would likely take place soon.
President Moon said in his New Year press conference he expects news about a high-level meeting between North Korea and the U.S. for their second summit in the near future.
There are views that the high-level meeting could be held as early as this week, on Pompeo's way back from a Middle East trip.