NK to receive relief after denuclearisation steps
SINGAPORE: North Korea will get relief from international sanctions only when it has shown irreversible moves toward denuclearisation, US Secretary of Defence James Mattis said ahead of a summit next week between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Speaking yesterday in Singapore at the start of a meeting with the defence ministers of South Korea and Japan, Mr Mattis warned that “we can anticipate at best a bumpy road to the negotiations.”
“As defence ministers we must maintain a strong, collaborative defensive stance so we enable our diplomats to negotiate from a calm position of strength in this critical time,” Mr Mattis said. The ministers were in Singapore for the annual IISS ShangriLa Dialogue, which brings together global defence officials.
He added that all United Nations Security Council resolutions on the regime must stay in place. “North Korea will receive relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearisation,” Mr Mattis said.
His comments came after Mr Trump conceded that North Korea won’t agree immediately to give up its nuclear arsenal, and seemingly walked back expectations for a quick deal from his planned June 12 Singapore meeting with Mr Kim.
Asked on Friday about the vaunted “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions enacted to rein in North Korea, Mr Trump said, “I don’t want to use that term. Because we’re getting along.”
The US has previously insisted that North Korea give up all its weapons before it can shed its pariah status or get any relief from sanctions. North Korea has bristled at the idea, and it’s unclear if the two sides will be able to bridge their differences enough for the meeting to be deemed a success.
Meanwhile, North Korea moved to replace its defence minister ahead of the pivotal negotiations, Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported yesterday. No Kwang-chol, the head of the ruling Workers’ Party’s second economic committee, was chosen to replace Pak Yong-sik, who served as defence chief since May 2015.
The summit was resurrected after Mr Trump called it off in a letter to Mr Kim on May 24, complaining of “the tremendous anger and open hostility” in comments from North Korea. But he had also left the door open, writing, “If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.”
The task before Mr Trump on June 12 is particularly difficult, since never before has a country with a nuclear programme as advanced as Mr Kim’s simply given it away.