hankyoreh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets scientists and technicians involved in the North’s nuclear program during a field guidance tour

North Korea described “establishing negotiations” as a “fundamental solution” to issues surrounding its nuclear and missile programs.

The statement came on Apr. 3, a month after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2270 sanctioning the North for its recent nuclear test and missile launch. It also showed a very different approach from the various shows of force with military exercises and threatening statements from Workers’ Party, government, the military and other organizations over the month since the resolution’s adoption. It could be a sign that Pyongyang is preparing for a change in the climate after its seventh party congress in early May.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported the content of a National Defense Commission “spokesperson’s statement” on Apr. 3.

“There is widespread opinion now that maintaining stability is a more urgent priority than unilateral sanctions, establishing negotiations is a more fundamental solution than reckless military pressure, and unconditional acknowledgement and cooperation are better ways out than futile attempts at overturning of systems,” the statement was quoted as saying.

While the statement emphasized the pointlessness of sanctions and included threatening references to “retaliatory warfare,” it also had a less confrontational tone than previous statements. In particular, it included a number of conciliatory references to “rational thinking,” “stability,” and “negotiations.”

Pyongyang also made previous efforts through its diplomatic envoys to attribute responsibility for the “nuclear issue” to the US and indirectly urge Washington to join negotiations toward a peace agreement.

So Se-pyong, the North’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, was quoted in an Apr. 1 interview with Reuters as saying, “If the United States stops their hostile policy towards the DPRK and comes to the peace treaty, then something [in terms of Pyongyang’s position that denuclearization is no longer on the negotiating table might be] different.”

In an Apr. 2 interview with the BBC, North Korean ambassador to the United Kingdom Hyon Hak-bong said, “The United States‘s hostile policy [and] nuclear threat pushed the DPR Korea into developing the nuclear weapons.”

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]