hankyoreh

US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun (second from right) and the US delegation dine after the breakdown of its working-level talks with North Korea in Stockholm

US President Donald Trump had raised expectations for the North Korea-US working-level talks in Sweden this past weekend by dismissing “super hawk” John Bolton from his post as US White House National Security Advisor and by hinting at the possibility of a new approach. But the working-level talks came to an inconclusive end on Oct. 5, confirming that the US’ attitude remains largely unchanged since the second North Korea-US summit, held in Hanoi in February, ended without an agreement.

The US’ response to the breakdown of working-level negotiations can be summarized in two points. First, the US didn’t show up at the negotiating table empty-handed, as North Korea claimed; second, it wants the negotiations to restart before too much time passes.

Barely three hours after North Korea’s lead negotiator Kim Myong-gil announced the North was breaking off talks, US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus issued a statement of her own in which she said the US “had good discussions with its DPRK [North Korean] counterparts.” This was a rebuttal of Kim’s expression of “great displeasure” at the fact that the working-level negotiations hadn’t lived up to expectations.

Ortagus also said the US had brought “creative ideas,” countering the North Korean claim about the lack of “new calculations,” and that the Americans had “previewed a number of new initiatives that would allow us to make progress in each of the four pillars of the Singapore joint statement.” This is presumed to mean that the US conveyed its commitment to guaranteeing a “brighter future” for the North by guaranteeing its regime security and providing economic support once the North starts moving toward denuclearization.

However, the US appears to have held to its previous position that North Korea must first agree on the definition of denuclearization, or in other words what the “end state” of denuclearization means. During the Hanoi summit, the US reportedly asked North Korea to agree to the end state of denuclearization and a roadmap for getting there. In regard to the North’s demand for sanctions to be lifted, the US has also firmly declared that it intends to keep the sanctions in place, regarding them as its last source of leverage. Ortagus’ reference to “good discussions” is presumed to mean that North Korea and the US confirmed their respective demands and areas of disagreement.

But the US made clear that the momentum for dialogue needs to be maintained even after the rupture in the working-level talks. “The United States and the DPRK will not overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula over the course of a single Saturday. These are weighty issues, and they require a strong commitment by both countries,” Ortagus said in the statement. She also proposed that the two sides resume working-level talks in Sweden in two weeks’ time.

Considering that Trump regards North Korea’s moratorium on nuclear weapon testing and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launches as one of his main achievements, it’s important for him to keep dialogue alive and persuade North Korea to refrain from action that would raise tensions. But as long as the US insists on the precondition of the North agreeing on the end state of denuclearization and maintains that sanctions cannot be lifted until the North takes action toward denuclearization, dialogue between the two sides is likely to remain stalled. Since Trump is in danger of being impeached by Congress, it remains to be seen whether he will make more concessions to North Korea in a bid for a foreign policy win or whether he will revert to a hardline stance of threatening war.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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