N. Korea vows to talk to U.S. about nuclear tests
North Korea has vowed to halt nuclear and missile tests if it holds talks with the U.S., in a major diplomatic breakthrough that could lead to a peaceful resolution of military tensions, officials revealed Tuesday.
The pledge was made during an unprecedented meeting between top South Korean security officials and Kim Jong Un, the reclusive North Korean leader, in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday evening. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the developments, praising the “possible progress” from the talks and saying that all sides were putting in “serious effort.”
However other U.S. administration figures were more wary. Mike Pence, the vice-president, said “credible, verifiable and concrete steps toward denuclearization” would be needed before America changed its stance of applying “maximum pressure” on the regime.
Dan Coats, the U.S. director of national intelligence, said he was “quite skeptical” about the announcement, adding: “Maybe this is a breakthrough. I seriously doubt it. As I said, hope springs eternal.”
North Korea has previously said it would give up its nuclear weapons, and has reneged on every deal it has ever signed. The scope of any proposed talks was also unclear. At various times, Pyongyang has demanded the full withdrawal of the U.S. military from South Korea or the withdrawal of “nuclear” troops and weapons — of which there currently are none in the South. Pyongyang had also demanded the cancellation of U.S. military exercises in exchange for eliminating its own weapons.
Similarly, the Trump administration has not clarified whether North Korea must pledge the “denuclearization” President Donald Trump has demanded as a precondition for substantive talks, or it must be agreed at the end of negotiations. But the sudden thaw could, at the very least, bring about a reprieve in the months of acute tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump said Tuesday that the United States remained “determined to achieve a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” He did not directly address the possibility of talks, but said of the news from Seoul, “hopefully it’s positive, hopefully it will lead to a very positive result.”
The Korean overtures come when the United States has no ambassador in South Korea and no special representative on North Korea, and when the nominee for assistant secretary of state for East Asia has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
In another significant development, North and South Korea agreed to hold their first joint summit in more than a decade in late April, according to Chung Eui-yong, who led the South’s two-day delegation to the North.
The summit between Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, and Kim will be held in the border village of Panmunjom, within the highly militarized zone between the two countries who are still technically at war.