US expert on North Korea says “price has gone up” for North Korea’s denuclearization

Posted on : 2018-05-09 16:38 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Joseph Yun says Kim’s possession of nuclear weapons changes the rules of the game
Joseph Yun
Joseph Yun

Joseph Yun, who recently stepped down as US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy, declared ahead of the North Korea-US summit that the US is “not going to be able to buy [North Korea] off at the price we did either [at the] Six-Party Talks or Agreed Framework [in 1994].”

Yun’s remarks are seen as underscoring the need to acknowledge that North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons means the price for “complete denuclearization” will be correspondingly higher.

Speaking at a forum hosted in Washington, DC, on May 7 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, Yun stressed that the situation today is different from 25 years ago.

“We have to admit the price has gone up,” he said.

“You have to address what they want. If you believe they should only address what we want I think that's a very, very mistaken path,” he added of the summit.

At the time of the 1994 Agreed Framework in Geneva, the US won a nuclear freeze from North Korea in exchange for building a light-water reactor there.

And at the time of the Oct. 19 Joint Statement in 2005, which was the greatest achievement of the Six-Party Talks, the US agreed to normalize relations with North Korea and to “discuss the issue of providing a light reactor” in exchange for the dismantlement of the North’s then nuclear program.

Joseph Yun believes that North Korean leader is serious about denuclearization. “This North Korean leader in his mid-thirties certainly wants to remain in power for the duration of a long and peaceful life. I think he has truly realized that the only option that would make this possible is changing course,” Yun said.

“Kim Jong-un reminds me of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung.”

“It would be a mistake to prioritize a peace treaty over denuclearization,” said Yun, who expects that it will take a long time to make a peace treaty because of the complex nature of the issues. Entering into a peace treaty prior to denuclearization “would basically stand as public acknowledgment that North Korea is being treated as an authorized nuclear weapon state,” he said.

In related news, a senior official at the Blue House who was asked about the postponement of the announcement about the time and location of the North Korea-US summit said on May 8 that “We had assumed that [the announcement] would be coming out at the beginning of this week, but we’re not sure what is going on now.”

In connection with this, observers in Washington have drawn the cautious conclusion that there has been some friction between North Korea and the US in the preliminary negotiations. The biggest cause cited by these observers is the controversy about US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s remarks about PVID (permanent, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization).

Responding to the argument made in some quarters that this concept represents a stronger demand for denuclearization than the previous CVID (complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization), one expert in Washington who is familiar with affairs in the US administration said, “They’re just differentiating their terminology from the previous administration, and it doesn’t appear to mean very much.”

The US press also does not regard this as signifying anything more than a change of terminology.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent, and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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