Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
All eyes on Kim Jong-un's next step
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at Pyongyang station as Kim returned home on Tuesday after traveling a day and a half by train from Vietnam, where his high-stakes nuclear summit with President Donald Trump ended without any agreement, in Pyongyang. / AP-Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung
Concerns are rising that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may go back to his hardline and provocative stance against Washington in the wake of the breakdown of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Last week, the two unpredictable leaders held the two-day-long summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi amid hopes for them to find a breakthrough in their stalled talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
But with Trump and Kim signing no deal there, their recent momentum for dialogue has hit a snag. Ranking North Korean officials for the regime's summit delegation, its Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, held a surprise press conference in Hanoi to place the blame on the U.S. for the failure of the summit.
“As of now, a realistic and beneficial choice for Trump is to take the first step in fulfilling the June 12 Singapore Declaration by accepting the North's well-intentioned proposal,” Chosun Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper based in Japan, said Wednesday.
It also stepped up criticism of Trump, saying the U.S. president should take corresponding steps to build trust with the North.
“Unless Trump wants to lose a chance for the North's denuclearization for long, the U.S. president should speed up implementing measures to establish trust with the North,” it said.
The hostile rhetoric came at a time when the North is showing signs of rebuilding the Tongchang-ri missile engine test facility, in what is apparently seen as the regime's reaction to the summit outcome.
On Tuesday, National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Suh Hoon is known to have said during a meeting at the National Assembly's intelligence committee that the North rebuilt a roof and a door at the facility.
No other details on the issue have so far been reported, but the latest move is drawing concerns here and abroad that the failed summit might have shifted Kim's firm willingness for denuclearization.
Opposition parties here also voiced their complaints over South Korean President Moon Jae-in's ongoing peace drive with the North.
Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Rep. Kim Moo-sung said Wednesday the government should stop wasting taxpayers' money for the inter-Korean reconciliation.
“The national budget should be used to tighten defense readiness here to counteract the North's possible nuclear threats,” he said.
The North's young leader is unlikely to give up his nuclear weapons considering the failed summit in Hanoi, and instead, his plan is for the regime to be accepted as a nuclear-weapons state, according to the lawmaker.
“President Moon should get away from his delusions that possible sanctions relief on the regime will enable its denuclearization,” the lawmaker said, arguing Moon should also replace personnel who failed to generate results in the ongoing denuclearization talks.