North Korea remains silent after Seoul-Washington summit

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., Friday (local time), after their summit. Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

North Korea has kept quiet on the results of last week's summit between South Korea and the United States, despite Washington's publicized commitment to diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang.

Diplomatic observers said, Thursday, the Kim Jong-un regime will decide on whether to accept a U.S. dialogue call in accordance with how China responds to the summit. Also, they suggested keeping close tabs on the South Korean spy agency chief's trip to the U.S.

On May 21 (local time), President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held their first in-person summit at the White House and agreed to engage diplomatically with the North to work toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also reaffirmed their commitment to previous inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea agreements ― the Panmunjeom Declaration and Singapore Joint Statement, both signed in 2018.

In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated earlier this week the Biden administration's commitment to diplomacy to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, saying, “The ball's in their court.”

“The outcomes of the summit are not a deciding factor for North Korea's future plans with regard to nuclear negotiations. Rather, it is waiting for China's reaction to the summit,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.

During the Moon-Biden summit, the two heads of state unexpectedly concurred on the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. They also referred to freedom of navigation and overflights in the South China Sea and beyond. In response, the Chinese government has warned against South Korea and the U.S. interfering in China's “internal affairs.”

“Should China strongly continue to take issue with the summit results, it will pave the way for North Korea to continue ignoring calls from the U.S. and South Korea to return to the negotiating table,” Park said.

“Currently, North Korea is more likely not to accept the dialogue offer.”

Shin Beom-chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said there seemed to be something going on between the two Koreas and the U.S., citing National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Park Jie-won's visit earlier this week to Washington, D.C., after the summit.

“There was nothing new in the post-summit joint statement for North Korea. I thought North Korea would have responded to it harshly due to its citation of the country's human rights issue, but there has been neither criticism nor welcoming of the results,” Shin said.

“Given North Korea's unexpected silence, the North may have said what it wants to South Korea and the NIS chief flew to the U.S. to discuss it with the U.S. government.”

Meanwhile, Moon Chung-in, the chairman of the Sejong Institute and former security and foreign affairs adviser to President Moon, said Tuesday that North Korea may approach the South to figure out the new U.S. policy on Pyongyang.

However, Park said this was highly unlikely given the ongoing situation.

“Without his own information regarding the issue, I do not buy into his prediction,” the professor said.

“Should North Korea decide to return to talks, it would reach out directly to the U.S. through their communication channels. It does not make sense that the North would take a detour in order to talk with the U.S.”