hankyoreh

Kim Myong-gil

After North Korea-US working-level talks in Stockholm ended without an agreement, a pro-North Korean newspaper said on Oct. 7 that 2019 is the last chance for negotiations about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that the time has come for US President Donald Trump to make a bold decision.

This appeal appeared in an article titled “Restoring trust in US is precondition for launching denuclearization talks” that was printed in the Choson Sinbo, the official newspaper of the pro-North Korean General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon. The Choson Sinbo sometimes runs articles that echo the position of the North Korean government.

The article argued that Trump “should stop listening to the proposals of officials and cabinet members who mistakenly think that North Korea can be forced to yield through pressure, conciliation, and deception, while still failing to retract their policy of hostility.” According to the article, Trump will need to step forward to declare the end of joint military exercises between South Korea and the US if he wants to end the deadlock in North Korea-US negotiations.

“North Korea has maintained a consistent position in its negotiations with the US. Until the US takes action to show its willingness to assuage North Korea’s concerns, the North is never going to take action on its own,” the paper said.

These remarks reconfirm the statement that North Korean chief negotiator Kim Myong-gil read shortly after the working-level talks in Stockholm: “If the US makes a sincere response, we can move forward with a serious discussion of the next phase of steps toward denuclearization.”

“Some newspapers are passing around conjecture that the US’ ‘creative ideas’ were rewarding North Korea for denuclearization measures such as agreeing to a definition of denuclearization and going beyond the closure of the Yongbyon nuclear complex with incentives such as the establishment of a liaison office and suspending sanctions on exports of textiles and coal,” the newspaper said, disparaging that as “just another variation on the idea that North Korea must give up its nuclear weapons before it can receive any rewards.”

The newspaper predicted that North Korea will hold to its position of step-by-step agreements and implementations, without accepting the US position of an all-inclusive agreement (including the final goal of denuclearization) and then a gradual process of implementing that agreement.

On Oct. 7, North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song held a press conference at which he criticized the UK, France, and Germany for requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council following North Korea’s test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. Kim said that North Korea would “not sit idly by” and asked the world to “watch carefully what we do in the future.” Kim clarified that he wasn’t talking about another missile launch, however.

After arriving in Washington on Oct. 7, South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon said he plans to “discuss concrete ways to sustain the momentum for dialogue and achieve meaningful results” during his meeting with Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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