The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Homeless women struggle to find place to spend night

  • 3

    More than dozen chaebol scions indicted on alleged drug use

  • 5

    People attempt to cut surging heating costs with creative solutions

  • 7

    Shunsuke Michieda overwhelmed by Korean fans' support for his coming-of-age film

  • 9

    Life prisoner sentenced to death for beating inmate to death

  • 11

    Kim Hyun-joo says humanity is at heart of action film 'Jung_E'

  • 13

    Korea's childbirths hit record low in Nov.

  • 15

    Korea's GDP shrinks 0.4% in Q4, 1st contraction in 10 quarters

  • 17

    S. Korea to increase joint air defense exercises following N. Korean drone incursions

  • 19

    Gov't seeks to limit where child sex offenders can reside

  • 2

    Koreans stunned by spike in heating costs

  • 4

    Heavy snow hits Seoul, surrounding areas

  • 6

    Netflix series 'The Glory' draws focus to real school bullying

  • 8

    Inflation weighs on households

  • 10

    'I was a stock investment addict': psychiatrist seeks to help addicted people through his book

  • 12

    INTERVIEWPartnerships with Korean companies help Delta Air Lines' post-pandemic recovery

  • 14

    PHOTOSAnother day of heavy snowfall in Korea

  • 16

    Gov't to double subsidies for vulnerable households as energy bills soar

  • 18

    Renaissance aesthetics meets surreal fantasy in Park Min-joon's oil paintings

  • 20

    VIDEODo Koreans know K-pop idols well?

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Sat, January 28, 2023 | 05:03
Cho Byung-jae
Let's start anew from Singapore accord
Posted : 2021-02-18 18:28
Updated : 2021-04-22 15:48
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Cho Byung-jae

Will the U.S.-DPRK dialogue, which has remained dormant since the Hanoi summit in February 2019, resume with the launch of the Biden administration?

At the eighth party congress in January, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un revealed his stance on the issue. While he left the door open for potential dialogue, it was conditioned upon "the withdrawal of the U.S. hostile policy toward North Korea." At the same time, he assigned North Korea's military to "develop tactical nuclear weapons, improve the accuracy of ICBMs, and accelerate the development of hypersonic gliding flight warheads, nuclear submarines and SLBMs" or submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The Biden administration has yet to come up with a specific North Korea policy. What Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at his confirmation hearing on Jan. 19 remains all that is known. Blinken, in close consultations with America's allies, is expected to review the entire approach toward North Korea to see what options there are, what would be effective in increasing pressure on North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, and what other diplomatic initiatives are available. It was a statement of principle that everything would be reviewed from top to bottom.

However, it is advisable for the Biden administration to outline a North Korea policy sooner rather than later. If left unattended, North Korea will be tempted to create a crisis with a new missile or nuclear test. If that happens, it will complicate US plans to immediately deal with critical issues such as China and climate change.

Secretary Blinken mentioned that additional sanctions could be used. However, the fact of the matter is, one of the most stringent sanctions regimes has been imposed against North Korea since 2016-17 and remains intact. If anything, North Korea's situation has been compounded by the outbreak of COVID-19, which has forced Pyongyang to close its borders completely. As a result, in 2020, trade with China, which used to account for 90 percent of North Korea's foreign trade, declined by 81 percent down to $540 million. Given how strained the country already is, it will not be easy to come up with new sanctions that will move the needle.

However, should the U.S. also consider diplomatic incentives that Blinken previously raised in his testimony, one of the most effective ways to sway North Korea could be renewing its commitment to the 2018 U.S.-North Korea Joint Statement. This may sound somewhat out of sync in light of the widespread criticism the statement received from the U.S. foreign policy community. However, it is worth noting that the statement was an agreement reached at the highest level.

The Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the Worker's Party of Korea, praised the Statement, saying that the supreme leader Kim Jong-un "made sure that the joint declaration that assured the establishment of new DPRK-U.S. relations was adopted." By simply renewing the commitment from its end, the U.S. could press North Korea to keep its promise to refrain from nuclear or long-range missile tests, while freeing up time to develop a roadmap for the future.

The value of the statement is more symbolic than substantive. What it does is to specify three goals in principle: normalization of bilateral relations, peacebuilding, and denuclearization. Specifics were to be discussed in subsequent negotiations. South Korea will certainly support this initiative.

The U.S. is facing two proliferation issues at the same time, one with North Korea at the Eastern end of Asia and another with Iran at the Western end. Although President Biden pledged to return to the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif stipulated that in order to return to the agreement, the U.S. should first lift all sanctions against Iran that were imposed by the Trump administration.

Furthermore, in February, Iran's intelligence chief warned that if the U.S. does not lift the sanctions, Iran would rescind its pledge to forego nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un has made similar requests to the U.S.

In his 2018 New York Times article, Secretary Blinken wrote that the Iran nuclear deal could serve as the best model for a deal with North Korea. The beauty of the Iran deal is its flexibility which accepted some degree of uncertainty in the future in exchange for the best option within practical reach. I hope the Biden administration tackles the North Korean issue with the same flexibility and determination.

During his visit to the Defense Department last month, President Biden promised to "bring a responsible end to wars that have dragged on for so long." It is likely that he had the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in mind. However, it would not be surprising to find out that he was also remembering a war which started 70 years ago and is still going on in the Korean peninsula.


Cho Byung-jae (bjcho81@gmail.com) is the secretary-general of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and also a visiting professor emeritus at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Kyungnam University. Cho was a career diplomat and his last position at the Foreign Ministry was the chancellor of the Korean National Diplomatic Academy.



 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1People attempt to cut surging heating costs with creative solutions People attempt to cut surging heating costs with creative solutions
2SK E&S retains gov't support for Barossa gas project in Australia SK E&S retains gov't support for Barossa gas project in Australia
3Cabinet ministries turn deaf ear to watchdog's advice on sexual minorities Cabinet ministries turn deaf ear to watchdog's advice on sexual minorities
4More Korean manufacturers enjoy Georgia's hospitality More Korean manufacturers enjoy Georgia's hospitality
5Seoul to work with Hanoi to pursue peace on Korean peninsula Seoul to work with Hanoi to pursue peace on Korean peninsula
6Superintendent of Seoul Education Office gets suspended jail term Superintendent of Seoul Education Office gets suspended jail term
7KT&G aims to become global top-tier company KT&G aims to become global top-tier company
8Indonesia celebrates 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Korea via virtual event Indonesia celebrates 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Korea via virtual event
9LGES to capitalize on US IRA, Tesla partnership to continue record earnings LGES to capitalize on US IRA, Tesla partnership to continue record earnings
10Middle East 'sales diplomacy' picks up speed Middle East 'sales diplomacy' picks up speed
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Shunsuke Michieda overwhelmed by Korean fans' support for his coming-of-age film Shunsuke Michieda overwhelmed by Korean fans' support for his coming-of-age film
2Kim Hyun-joo says humanity is at heart of action film 'Jung_E' Kim Hyun-joo says humanity is at heart of action film 'Jung_E'
3Renaissance aesthetics meets surreal fantasy in Park Min-joon's oil paintings Renaissance aesthetics meets surreal fantasy in Park Min-joon's oil paintings
4Jang Keun-suk steps out of his comfort zone with 'The Bait' Jang Keun-suk steps out of his comfort zone with 'The Bait'
5TXT brings together 'pansori' and fairy tale in new song 'Sugar Rush Ride' TXT brings together 'pansori' and fairy tale in new song 'Sugar Rush Ride'
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

wooribank
CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group