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US Defense Secretary James Mattis

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis listed three preconditions on Nov. 16 for US talks with North Korea. His remarks come amid a North Korea visit by Chinese Community Party International Liaison Department chief Song Tao, who arrived on Nov. 17 as a special envoy for President Xi Jinping.

“So long as they stop testing, stop developing, they don’t export their weapons, there would be opportunity for talks,” a Reuters report quoted Mattis as telling reporters on Nov. 16 on board an Air Force aircraft to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs.

The “weapons” mentioned by Mattis appeared to be a reference to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. Mattis’s remarks were read as an overt message of pressure communicating US demands to Beijing and Pyongyang ahead of their discussions.

The conditions given by Mattis for the resumption of official negotiations add a [testing] freeze and nonproliferation to the halt to provocations that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently hinted would be a precondition for unofficial dialogue. It also marks effectively the first time a senior Donald Trump administration official has stipulated nonproliferation – a ban on exportation of nuclear and missile programs – as a condition.

But many observers suggested the administration does not yet have any carefully coordinated “denuclearization process” in place, citing US President Donald Trump’s recent National Assembly speech listing a halt to missile development and complete, verifiable denuclearization as preconditions for resuming dialogue.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs nominee Randall Schriver acknowledged in his confirmation hearing the same day at the Senate Armed Services Committee that [the US] could theoretically initiate a war with North Korea without South Korea or Japan’s consent.

He added, however, that it would be impossible to sustain military action against the North without the support of South Korea or Japan, as the US could not use their military bases. The message was seen as an acknowledgement that the US cannot wage military action against North Korea independently. On the issue of trilateral military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, Schriver said the North Korean threat “compels [the three sides] to work together,” adding that he hoped to contribute to that if confirmed.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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