hankyoreh

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump greet each other at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel on the evening of Feb. 27. (AFP/Yonhap News)

The North Korean military was reportedly ordered by leader Kim Jong-un not to “engage in any unscheduled military activity” ahead of the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi on Feb. 27–28.

The report was seen as an indication of how strongly Kim was hoping for the summit’s success.

In an Apr. 4 report citing accounts from South Korean senior government officials and US defense officials, CNN said Kim “was worried any inadvertent movement of his military units would raise tensions prior to the summit.” Accordingly, he issued orders for all units to “stay in place in a passive status,” the report said.

It went to describe Kim’s goal as “to ensure existing military confidence building measures would remain in place, especially in the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea, with the aim of helping him convince Trump to ease sanctions on the regime.”

North Korea has referred several times in passing to significant objections within its military to the negotiations toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula initiated with the US early last year. In opening remarks at the first summit in Singapore on June 12 of last year, Kim stressed that the “road to this point has not been an easy one,” adding that the “past has hampered our progress, and mistaken prejudices and practices have sometimes covered our eyes and ears.” While the meaning of his remarks was a topic of some debate, many saw them as indicating considerable resistance within the North Korean military to his decision to pursue denuclearization negotiations with the US. His orders suggest he ultimately moved to foreclose the possibility of an unintended incident near the DMZ by controlling the activities of front-line units that would be difficult for him to influence directly in their specific activities.

Citing accounts from several senior US military officials, CNN said no evidence had been detected of North Korea launching any satellites or missiles or planning a seventh nuclear test at present. The situation was read as suggesting that despite the second summit’s failure, Kim has not yet given up on his goal of getting US President Donald Trump to lift sanctions in exchange for steps toward denuclearization.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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