US says ‘ready to talk to N Korea’
THE US is ready to engage in direct talks with North Korea even as it maintains its “maximum pressure campaign” on the reclusive state, US Vice President Mike Pence said, hinting at a shift in the US’s North Korea policy.
The US and South Korea have agreed on terms for further engagement with North Korea, first by Seoul and then possibly leading to talks with Washington, Pence said in an interview with the Washington Post aboard Air Force Two on his way home from the Olympics in South Korea.
“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization,” the Post quoted Pence as saying. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want
to talk, we’ll talk.”
His remark comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister KimYo-jong invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang during their meeting at the Blue House on Saturday.
Moon neither accepted nor rejected the invitation, saying “the environment” should be created for such a summit to take place, apparently mindful of the US. He also encouraged the North to be more proactive in seeking dialogue with the US, according to the Blue House.
The invitation left Moon with the pressing task of convincing North Korea to engage in dialogue over its nuclear and missile programs without alienating its biggest ally, the US. Concerns surfaced over the possible discord between South Korea and the US in its approach to North Korea as Pence, who came to South Korea on Thursday for the opening of the Pyeongchang Olympics, increased US pressure on Pyongyang by highlighting the brutality of the regime during his time here.
Pence was seen ignoring or avoiding high-profile North Korean delegates, including Kim Yo-jung, when he was in close proximity to them during the reception hosted by President Moon and during the opening ceremony of the Winter Games.
But Pence’s comments aboard Air Force Two may signal a shift in Trump administration’s focus toward engagement with Pyongyang and an easing of con- ditions for talks with North Korea. Previously, the US had ruled out any possibility of talks with the North unless it agreed to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.
Pence said that the pressure campaign would continue at the same time. Washington has sought to isolate Pyongyang to convince it to sit down for talks on its denuclearisation through multi-layered sanctions and diplomacy.
During Pence’s visit, Moon assured the vice president he would tell the North Koreans clearly that they would not get economic or diplomatic concessions for just talking, only for taking concrete steps toward denuclearisation, the Post said. Based on that assurance, Pence was cited as saying he felt confident he could endorse post-Olympic engagement with Pyongyang.
China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, welcomed North Korea’s move.
“The two Koreans strive to break the nuclear deadlock through the Olympics,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported, adding the opening of dialogue on the Korean Peninsula was up to the two Koreas’ will and neighboring countries’ support.
In Washington, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi said that China hopes the thaw in interKorean ties over the Olympics can be translated over into regular talks between North Korea and the US during his meeting with the US President Donald Trump on Friday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
But Japan expressed scepticism over the communist regime’s peace overture.
“Japan and South Korea joined the path for dialogue with North Korea, but it continued to develop its nuclear and missile development. Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless,” Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told Japanese reporters on Saturday.
Japanese Prime Minister’s Shinzo Abe told Moon during their meeting at the Blue House that he favours the swift resumption of joint US-South Korean military exercises, which had been delayed until after the Olympics to ensure calm during the Olympics.
In response, Moon said that it was an internal affair and that it was inappropriate for Abe to bring it up, according to the Blue House.
Tokyo has accused the North of using the Olympics to loosen the international sanctions regime, “buying time” to perfect its nuclear and missile technology and water down the KoreaUS alliance.