hankyoreh

Kim Myong-gil

The working-level talks that North Korea and the US held on Oct. 5 in Stockholm concluded without any results. Given the high hopes for these talks — which were organized with great difficulty seven months after the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi ended without a deal this past February — this outcome is regrettable and disappointing.

The cause of the negotiations’ failure cannot be known for certain. However, we should take note of North Korean chief negotiator Kim Myong-gil’s criticism of the US’ “outdated attitude” and his statement that the talks “didn’t meet our expectations.”

Considering that North Korea had mentioned “new calculations” and the US “new methods” prior to the talks, there had been hopes that the talks would lead to a breakthrough in the long-standing deadlock in negotiations over the North Korean nuclear issue. But it appears that the talks broke down over North Korea’s irritation at the continuing disconnect between the US’ proposal for an all-in-one agreement encompassing the dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and the North’s position that an agreement must be implemented in a “phased and synchronous” manner.

It’s not a positive sign that the two sides’ working-level talks, which had been so challenging to arrange, ended without any progress — especially since US President Donald Trump, who has been an enthusiastic proponent of the North Korean nuclear talks, is facing impeachment proceedings, with the presidential election coming up next year.

Fortunately, however, North Korea and the US haven’t completely given up the option of dialogue. “If the US makes a sincere response to the confidence-building measures and the steps toward denuclearization that we have preemptively taken, we can enter a serious discussion about the next steps toward denuclearization,” Kim said in his statement, while suggesting that the US think over its options until the end of the year. This appears to mean that North Korea will continue dialogue while pressuring the US to take measures of its own corresponding to the action that the North has taken since the Singapore summit.

The US also expressed its determination to quickly resume dialogue, remarking in a statement that it had accepted “the invitation of our Swedish hosts to return to Stockholm to meet again in two weeks’ time.”

North Korea doesn’t trust the US to provide regime security or rewards for denuclearization, and the US doubts the North’s commitment to denuclearization while refusing to let up on its punishing sanctions. Given the history of denuclearization talks, the two sides’ positions are understandable. But without denuclearization, there’s little hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula or for North Korea’s development. By the same token, the US cannot achieve its goal of denuclearization by demanding the North’s unilateral disarmament.

Given the inter-Korean summits, North Korea-US summits, and meeting of the three leaders at Panmunjom that have been held so far, the North Korean nuclear talks themselves must not be jeopardized. We encourage both North Korea and the US to continue their efforts to gradually narrow the distance between them and to find a compromise that both sides can accept during their next meeting, which will hopefully take place soon.

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