Pyongyang wants Washington's 'concession' before denuclearization talks

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

North Korea

Sat, September 23, 2023 | 07:48

Pyongyang wants Washington's 'concession' before denuclearization talks

Posted : 2021-03-18 15:52

Updated : 2021-03-19 09:10

North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui speaks to reporters in Moscow after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in this Nov. 20, 2019, file photo. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

North Korea has issued a series of statements pledging to ignore any contact from Washington, and Pyongyang watchers say the North is attempting to put itself in an advantageous position to draw a "concession" in future denuclearization talks.

The denuclearization negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalemated since the failure of the Hanoi summit in February 2019 between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said in a statement, Wednesday, which was carried by the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the following day, that Washington had tried to reach out to Pyongyang through multiple diplomatic channels as reported earlier by U.S. media, but Pyongyang had dismissed the calls.

"We don't think there is need to respond to the U.S. delaying-time trick again. We have already declared our stand that no DPRK-U.S. contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK," Choe said. The DPRK, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the official name of North Korea. "Therefore, we will disregard such an attempt of the U.S. in the future, too."

The statement was made on the day when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made their first visit to South Korea since the launch of the Joe Biden administration.

Earlier on Tuesday, the KCNA also carried another statement issued by Kim Yo-jong, in which the powerful sister of the country's leader criticized U.S.-South Korea springtime combined exercises that were launched March 8 for an 11-day run.

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North Korea watchers said the country was trying to take an advantageous position in any upcoming negotiations with the Biden administration by issuing strong messages, but these did not mean that it was shutting the door for dialogue with Washington.

"The statements from Pyongyang showed that they want to start negotiations with Washington in a position favorable for them, but not a sign that they were shutting down doors for dialogue," said Moon Sung-mook, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

"As Blinken and Austin are on a trip to the East Asia region to listen to allied countries' opinions as the Biden administration is in the final stages of drawing up its North Korea policy, Pyongyang was reaffirming its earlier stance declared by Kim Jong-un, demanding Washington make a concession first for dialogue."

Foreign Minster Chung Eui-yong, second from right, and Defense Minister Suh Wook, right, hold a press conference following a meeting with their U.S. counterparts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second from left, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the foreign ministry in Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps

Moon said if denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea start without Washington making a concession as the North has requested, such as sanctions easing, Pyongyang would want to use the situation by saying that it had made a great concession by agreeing to the talks while the U.S. had made no change in its earlier position.

Choe's statement echoes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's earlier message at the eighth congress of the country's ruling Workers' Party of Korea held in January this year, in which Kim said Pyongyang would respond to Washington based on its new "strength-against-strength" and "benevolence-against-benevolence" principle.

Following the strong message from the country's leader to the party congress, the North had since remained silent toward the new U.S. administration under Biden. However, it broke the silence when Blinken and Austin had their first visit to Seoul for meetings with their South Korean counterparts, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Defense Minister Suh Wook, Wednesday and Thursday, to discuss pending alliance issues.

On the agenda for the meetings were denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the allies' joint military exercises and trilateral cooperation between the U.S., South Korea and Japan to counter regional challenges which the U.S. secretaries said were mainly posed by China and North Korea.

Regarding the secretaries' remarks, Choe said, "In order for a dialogue to be held, an atmosphere for both parties to exchange words on an equal basis must be created. But what has been heard from the U.S. since the emergence of the new regime is only the lunatic theory of the 'threat from North Korea' and groundless rhetoric about 'complete denuclearization'."

damin.jung@koreatimes.co.kr