White House says US won’t intervene in S. Korea’s provision of humanitarian aid to N. Korea

Posted on : 2019-05-10 15:32 KST Modified on : 2019-05-10 15:32 KST
Pompeo indicates no change in “maximum pressure” campaign
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders addresses reporters at the White House on May 8. (Reuters/Yonhap News)
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders addresses reporters at the White House on May 8. (Reuters/Yonhap News)

While reconfirming its policy of imposing pressure and sanctions on North Korea, the Trump administration stated that it won’t intervene in the South Korean government’s plans to provide humanitarian aid to the North.

When a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders on May 8 whether Trump is “OK with South Korea sending food aid to North Korea when there appear to be new provocations from Pyongyang,” Sanders said, “If South Korea moves forward on that front we are not going to intervene.”

“Our position in regards to North Korea is going to continue to be the maximum pressure campaign. Our focus is on the denuclearization,” Sanders added.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also addressed the Trump administration’s policy of putting pressure on North Korea during a speech in London on May 8. “President Trump has led tough diplomacy towards the final, fully-verified denuclearization of North Korea. [. . .] That mission is important, and the pressure campaign that the world has engaged in must continue,” Pompeo said.

These remarks reconfirm that the US’ sanctions-oriented “maximum pressure” will remain unchanged even after North Korea’s launch of short-range projectiles on May 4, but that the US won’t prevent South Korea from providing humanitarian aid to North Korea, which is unrelated to international sanctions. The Blue House reported that Trump, during a phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on May 7, expressed his support for the South providing the North with humanitarian food aid, describing that as a timely and positive step.

The apparent reason that the US has taken steps to approve South Korean food aid after previously holding a lukewarm stance toward the international community giving humanitarian aid to the North is as an attempt to prevent the situation from deteriorating by creating a conciliatory mood amid recent tensions with the North. Ultimately, the US appears to be attempting to give the North an exit strategy and a rationale for engaging in dialogue with the US.

US under pressure from international community and aid groups

Diplomatic sources say that the US has been under pressure from the international community and aid groups, which have criticized the US for weaponizing humanitarian aid in its campaign of pressuring North Korea to denuclearize. The US was already toying with the option of allowing humanitarian aid: during a visit to South Korea in December 2018, Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea, said that the US would reconsider the ban on Americans traveling to North Korea to avoid impacting humanitarian aid to the North.

With tensions escalated by the rupture of talks during the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi and the North’s launch of short-range projectiles, Trump appears to have agreed to Moon’s plan to actively provide humanitarian aid. Trump has a critical need to prevent the North from taking additional action, since he regards the North’s moratorium on nuclear weapon and missile testing as his signature foreign policy achievement. Diplomatic sources say that the US administration is waiting to see whether food aid to the North will ease the strained atmosphere and preserve the momentum for dialogue, even if it doesn’t completely dissolve the tension between the two sides.

The reason the US is keeping its distance from the South Korean government’s food aid to the North, nominally giving its approval while only promising not to intervene, appears to result from its uncertainty about how North Korea, which has been demanding relief from key sanctions, will respond to the food aid.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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

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