[News analysis] Kim Jong-un sets timeline for third summit with US

Posted on : 2019-04-15 17:27 KST Modified on : 2019-04-15 17:27 KST
North Korean leader establishes stance of openness while demanding bold decision from US
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before giving his speech during the 1st Meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before giving his speech during the 1st Meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he’s willing to meet US President Donald Trump a third time if the US proposes such a summit. Kim signaled his willingness to negotiate “on the condition that [the US] has the right attitude and seeks a solution that we can share,” Kim said during a speech on the second day of the 1st Meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, on Apr. 12.

But Kim also set a deadline for such a summit, stating he would “wait patiently until the end of the year for the United States to make a bold decision.” This intimidating remark suggests that the North could take “another path” if no meaningful progress is made by the end of the year.

It’s particularly notable that Kim left open the possibility of compromise between North Korea and the US by clearly and specifically stating the North’s demands while also seeking “a solution that we can share.” A former high-ranking official who is adept at interpreting North Korean statements told the Hankyoreh on Apr. 14 that “the key words in the message to the US in Kim’s speech can be identified as the willingness to hold a third summit, a ‘solution that we can share,’ and ‘until the end of the year.’”

Kim’s message to the US accounted for a substantial part of his speech, which was titled “The Construction of Socialism at the Present Stage and the Domestic and Foreign Policy of the Government of the Republic,” with references to North Korea-US relations taking up about 15% of the total 47 minutes of his delivery.

Shortly after the details of Kim’s speech were made public, Trump responded in a tweet on Apr. 13 that “I agree [. . .] that a third Summit would be good.” While North Korea and the US have been in a battle of nerves ever since Trump and Kim’s Hanoi summit on Feb. 27-28, observers think that the two sides will soon launch closed-door talks.

Won’t accept same attitude US exhibited at Hanoi

Even though Kim expressed his willingness to hold a third summit, he made clear that he won’t accept the method used in Hanoi. In his speech, the text of which was printed on the first three pages of the Apr. 13 edition of the Rodong Sinmun, Kim described the US negotiating stance in Hanoi as being aimed at disarming the regime with the hope of eventually overthrowing it. The US demands, Kim said, contradicted North Korea’s fundamental interests. “We don’t welcome – and we have no intention of repeating – the kind of summit like the one held in Hanoi,” Kim said. The US’ approach at Hanoi, he added, had been “completely impractical,” while stressing that the US “won’t be able to move us a single inch nor achieve any of its desires.”

In exchange, Kim suggested that implementing the joint statement that resulted from the first North Korea-US summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018, could be an alternative way to make a third summit possible. The US needs to “abandon its current calculation and approach us with a new one,” Kim said.

According to Kim, the June 12 joint statement was “a historical declaration by which North Korea and the US, two countries with hostile relations, announced to the world that they were going to write a new history.” This statement represented “a signpost toward the establishment of new North Korea-US relations,” he added. “Confidence building,” Kim stressed, “is the fundamental key for resolving the hostile relations between our two countries.”

“Both sides need to set aside unilateral demands and conditions and look for a constructive solution that accords with their respective interests,” Kim said.

North willing to compromise without any absolute conditions or demands

During the Hanoi summit, Kim explained, he “expressed his resolution to take serious and credible steps” after determining “the steps and means necessary for implementing the June 12 joint statement [. . .] in a manner corresponding to our mutual interests.” Kim didn’t get into the details, however. His remarks can be taken as hinting that North Korea is willing to compromise without imposing any absolute conditions or demands.

Even while bluntly attacking the US for “still ignoring [its commitment] to end its policy of hostility,” Kim said that he “maintains an excellent relationship” with Trump and that the two “can exchange letters of greetings anytime we want.” These comments indicate that Kim wants to stick with the “top-down” method, which is to say Kim and Trump’s attempt to parlay their personal relationship of trust into momentum for the negotiations.

At the same time, Kim repeatedly stressed that he’s ready for a prolonged fight, by declaring that he won’t rush his negotiations with the US or be the first to give ground. “I think we shouldn’t obsess with a summit with the United States only because we are thirsty for sanctions relief,” Kim said, acknowledging indirectly that he’d rushed into the Hanoi summit because of his desire to quickly obtain sanctions relief.

“In any case, our standoff with the US is of a protracted nature, and the sanctions by the hostile forces will continue. We will no longer obsess over lifting sanctions imposed by the hostile forces, but we will open the path to economic prosperity through our own means,” Kim declared. These remarks contain two messages: Kim was instructing his domestic audience to become more self-reliant because they can’t count on sanctions relief in the short term, and he was hinting to an international audience that his negotiations with the US won’t be directly tied to lifting sanctions. But analysts don’t think this means that North Korea won’t ask for sanctions to be lifted or that it’s reorienting its agenda to security matters.

By setting a deadline of “the end of the year,” Kim was creating a failsafe to increase his leverage with the US, which dovetails with his declaration that he won’t “obsess over lifting sanctions.” Along with warning that North Korea could explore “another path” if the end of the year passes without progress, Kim was prodding the US to quickly adopt a different negotiation attitude by underlining that time is not on the US’ side.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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

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