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US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun (left), Washington’s special representative for North Korea, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (provided by the US Department of State)

North Korean First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui said in a statement on July 4 that the North does not “feel any need to sit face to face with the US, as it does not consider the DPRK [North Korea]-US dialogue as [anything] more than a tool for grappling [with] its political crisis.” Choe also doubted whether it is “possible to hold dialogue or have any dealings with the US which persists in the hostile policy toward the DPRK in disregard of the agreements already made at the past summit.”

Some analysts concluded that this statement rules out the possibility of a North Korea-US summit being held before the US presidential election, but that’s not the only way the statement can be read. A closer look shows that it stipulates the conditions for dialogue: the US must either start over from scratch or change its “hostile policy” toward North Korea. This suggests that North Korea is willing to sit down with the US if it shifts from empty words to meaningful action.

Choe’s statement was released shortly after South Korean President Moon Jae-in shuffled his foreign policy and national security teams and spoke about working to arrange a third North Korea-US summit and shortly before US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun was scheduled to visit South Korea (on July 7-9). As the US’ special representative for North Korea, Biegun is in charge of the US’s working-level denuclearization talks with the North, and he identified Choe as his counterpart in those talks last November. The message that Biegun sends to North Korea during his visit to the South will probably be vital to restarting North Korea-US dialogue.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula needs to be managed carefully to prevent it from deteriorating further, and a breakthrough must be found for the impasse in inter-Korean and North Korea-US dialogue. What the US needs to do first is take action that can determine its commitment to dialogue. One option worth considering is adjusting the ROK-US joint military exercises in August. North Korea has taken issue with those exercises, which it regards as part of the US’ policy of hostility toward the North. This year, both the US and South Korea have reportedly encountered numerous difficulties in preparing for the exercises because of the COVID-19 crisis. We hope the two governments will adjust these exercises to bring North Korea to the negotiating table and come up with creative proposals to break the ice on North Korea-US dialogue.

The South Korean government needs to work actively, and proactively, to improve inter-Korean relations and in so doing to create momentum for North Korea-US relations. By nominating Park Jie-won as director of the National Intelligence Service, Moon was basically saying that South Korea will speed up efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and asking the US to adopt a forward-looking attitude. It’s reportedly possible that Biegun will meet with the new foreign policy and national security lineup — including Park; Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House National Security Office; and Lee In-young, nominee for Unification Minister — during his visit to South Korea. We hope that the South Korean government will clearly convey its position to Biegun and make its case to the American government.

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