Koreas, US slow down on denuclearization talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Kumsusan Palace of the Sun with his aides to pay tribute on the seventh anniversary of his father Kim Jong-il's death, Dec. 17. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo


The two Koreas and the United States are apparently slowing down talks over denuclearization, as seen from the postponement of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim's trip to South Korea.

However, the three countries are maintaining momentum for dialogue and to ensure the security situation on the Korean Peninsula will not become as tense as in 2017.

It had been expected that Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington might be able jointly to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War by the end of this year, after Kim met two other leaders earlier this year and fueled optimism for rapprochement.

With little progress in Pyongyang-Washington talks over denuclearization, Trump said this month that he expected to have a second summit with Kim in January or February.

He said the U.S. was "in no hurry" to negotiate with North Korea, signaling a further delay in his summit with Kim.

The possibility of Kim visiting Seoul in December in line with his promise is now virtually zero because it would take at least 10 days to prepare for the trip, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.

Pyongyang wants sanctions relief in return for what it sees as the substantive denuclearization steps it has taken since the summit. Washington is asking for more tangible measures before making such major concessions.

Against this backdrop, North Korea said it would not relinquish its nuclear weapons until the U.S. eliminated its own "nuclear threat."

In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) last week, the Kim regime said, the "proper definition of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is completely eliminating the American nuclear threat to North Korea before eliminating our nuclear capability."

However, the regime refrained from provoking the U.S. any further.

The North also kept low key on the seventh anniversary of the death of Kim's father Kim Jong-il on Dec. 17.

Kim paid his respects at Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and underscored efforts to "fulfill the (same) obligation and duties as his revolutionary soldiers" and work hard to "implement his plan and desire to the last without an inch of deflection and any concession," according to the KNCA.

"He paid highest tribute to Kim Jong-il, who devoted his all to the prosperity of the country and the happiness of the people until the last moments of his revolutionary career," the KCNA said.

It said Kim was accompanied by senior party officials, though it did not specify who joined his visit to the mausoleum where the bodies of the leader's father and the country's founder, Kim Il-sung, are enshrined.

A photo on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling party, showed senior party officials, such as Pak Tae-song, O Su-yong, Kim Pyong-hae, Choe Ryong-hae and Ri Su-yong, marching with leader Kim.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, left, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Phil Davidson, center, and Rear Adm. Jon Kreitz, deputy director of the POW/MIA Accounting Agency, attend a ceremony marking the arrival in Hawaii of remains believed to be those of American service members who died in the Korean War. / AP-Yonhap

The U.S. apparently has been displeased with the South bolstering efforts on inter-Korean cooperation and being asked to keep pace with denuclearization in inter-Korean ties.

But Stephen Biegun, Washington's top nuclear envoy, said on Dec. 21 that cooperation between Seoul and Washington on North Korea could help end the longstanding hostility on the Korean Peninsula. He also said it could usher in a "brighter" chapter" for all people here.

"The work we do together is not just for U.S.-South Korean relations. It's for the future of the Korean Peninsula," Biegun said in Seoul.

"And if we are successful, we will close the chapter of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula and create a new, brighter future for all of the Korean people."

Biegun traveled to Korea hold a second "working group" meeting with top South Korean officials handling North Korean issues.

Among them was Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon. During their meeting, Biegun expressed "excitement" about an inter-Korean railway project aimed at connecting railroads across the Demilitarized Zone.

The United Nations granted a sanctions waiver to the project, after Washington supported the plan, a turnaround from its apparent reluctance to endorse it.

"I'm excited to hear the results of the joint rail survey; it was led by your ministry. We watched with great excitement as the trains launched into North Korea," Biegun said.

He separately said that the U.S. would reevaluate its ban on American citizens' travel to North Korea early next year to facilitate aid groups' humanitarian assistance to the communist state.

It may give South Korea a boost to go ahead with its long suspended plan to provide $8 million worth of humanitarian assistance to the North, via global agencies. The plan announced last year has not been executed amid stalemated denuclearization talks with North Korea.

On Dec. 21, Cheong Wa Dae said Kim's Seoul trip "may materialize in the near future."

A senior presidential official said on condition of anonymity, "The South and North are communicating closely through various channels, and we need to keep watching how the situation will unfold.

"It appears to be difficult for the trip to occur within this year as there isn't much time left until the end of the year ... However, as the Pyongyang declaration says the trip will take place in the near future, we believe that promise will be kept."

The official added that Seoul would not rush or pressure Pyongyang to arrange Kim's trip to Seoul.

Also on Dec. 21, National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong said the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula "has begun to enter an irreversible phase. North Korea, too, believes this process cannot be reversed."

He added that the start of the denuclearization process still made the year one of the most significant in the country's history.

"Most of all, the greatest achievement of our government this year in the international and security areas is the fact that we have eliminated the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula," he told reporters.

"If our security policy in the past had been one to defend peace, we pushed for a more active security policy to make peace this year."