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The head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American bureau

Choe Son-hui, the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American affairs bureau chief, recently said there “may be an exit” from the North Korean nuclear crisis if the US “makes the right choice to abandon its hostile policies and co-exist with North Korea as a nuclear state,” it was reported on Oct. 24. The message is being interpreted as suggesting Pyongyang is leaving the possibility of dialogue open.

Choe’s remarks were made during a closed-door session on “Detente on the Korean Peninsula” at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference on Oct. 21, a South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official reported.

When asked what was specifically meant by the US “abandoning its hostile policies,” Choe reportedly replied, “For a diplomatic and peaceful resolution to happen, the right atmosphere must be formed, but North Korea cannot sit down at the negotiating table when there are threatening tweets from President [Donald] Trump every day.”

“North Korea will not move an inch if the US’s policies of pressure with military and nuclear threats and economic sanctions continue,” she was also quoted as saying.

“We will not be bound by the Sept. 19 Joint Statement [of 2005] stipulating denuclearization, nor will we return to the Six-Party [Talks] framework.”

Choe’s remarks differ little from Pyongyang’s other recent statements of principle on the international stage. But her use of the terms “exit” and “right atmosphere” are drawing notice, as they could be seen as a signal that Pyongyang may pursue negotiations.

“Choe’s remarks could be taken a signal that [North Korea] is starting to negotiate,” said University of North Korean Studies (UNKS) professor Koo Kab-woo.

“The agenda on the table this time will definitely be different from in the past,” Koo predicted.

Fellow UNKS professor Yang Moo-jin noted that Choe “conditionally left room for dialogue, but indicated that [North Korea] will not agree to talks toward denuclearization alone.”

Experts said the key would be how Seoul and Washington respond to Pyongyang’s quiet “signal,” stressing that the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics early next year will need to be used as an opportunity to initiate dialogue.

Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee chairman Thomas Bach told South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon during a Greece visit on Oct. 24 that the committee was “working through various channels to allow North Korea to participate in the Pyeongchang Olympics.”

“We are working on the technical measures that would give North Korea an opportunity to participate,” Bach said.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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