On July 26, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held a press conference at the International Convention Center in Vientiane. “[The opportunity to] denuclearize the Korean Peninsula seems to have been lost because of the US. Future nuclear tests depend entirely upon the US’s stance,” Ri said.
The North is adopting a strategy of ambiguity as it refuses to either confirm or deny whether it will carry out a fifth nuclear test. It is also significant that Ri referred to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the tentative expression “seems to have been lost” instead of the definite expression “has been lost.”
When asked why there were no talks between North and South Korea during the forum (which lasted from July 24 to 26), Ri said, “We made proposals to hold talks for working out inter-Korean relations through dialogue and negotiations, but they were all rejected. At the current time, I believe that South Korea is not prepared for talks.”
This apparently does not mean that Pyongyang proposed holding talks during this forum. It is presumably a reference to the fact that South Korea has not accepted a number of proposals for dialogue that North Korea has made since its Workers’ Party Congress, which took place from May 6 to May 9, including a proposal on May 21 for a working-level conference to prepare for inter-Korean military talks.
By Lee Je-hun, staff reporter in Vientiane
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