Kim’s new nuclear promise
Kim Jong-un has promised to tear down his missile launch pad and even his nuclear warhead factory, but insisted that President Trump make concessions of his own in the stalled negotiations over North Korean denuclearisation.
The promises were made during a visit to Pyongyang by President Moon of South Korea.
The talks between the two men, their third this year, produced detailed agreements between North and South, including plans for Kim to visit Seoul and a proposal to host the Olympic Games together.
Kim’s new ideas will be seen in some quarters as an attempt to deflect American claims that he is holding up negotiations on denuclearisation. He agreed to allow experts from ‘‘concerned countries’’ to witness the permanent shutting down of the missile testing site at Tongchang-ri, in the north of the country. The North also ‘‘expressed its readiness’’ to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear power plant, which is the source of much of the material from which it made its nuclear arsenal.
‘‘What I have to tell you today floods my heart with emotion,’’ Moon said. ‘‘For the first time, South and North Korea have agreed on measures for denuclearisation. This is an extremely meaningful accomplishment. Complete denuclearisation is not far away.’’
Kim said: ‘‘We have agreed to make the Korean peninsula a land of peace that is free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat.
The road to our future will not always be smooth and we may face challenges and trials we can’t anticipate. But we shall not fear headwinds, because our strength will grow as we overcome each trial based on the strength of our nation.’’
Trump’s first reaction was enthusiastic. ‘‘Kim Jong-un has agreed to allow Nuclear inspections, subject to final negotiations, and to permanently dismantle a test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts,’’ he tweeted.
‘‘In the meantime there will be no rocket or nuclear testing ... Also, North and South Korea will file a joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics. Very exciting!’’
However, the proposed measures in themselves will not amount to the abandonment of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, which a year ago was provoking Trump to hints of war. The Tongchang-ri site has already served its purpose in testing intercontinental missiles, and the North now has mobile missile launchers that can easily be concealed.
Some experts assume that Kim’s forces have other secret sources of nuclear material for future warheads, of which he already has a few dozen; enough to serve as a powerful deterrent.
More concrete are the lesser agreements between North and South on reducing military tension along their land and sea borders. The two sides will remove mines and close down guard posts in the so-called Demilitarised Zone – the densely fortified strip of no man’s land that runs across the peninsula – and establish a no-fly zone above it.
They will halt firing exercises and manoeuvres within 5km of the land border and sea boundary, and will place covers over coastal artillery. – The Times