Nuclear talks are off the table, says North Korea
Regime will not discuss weapons after agreeing to send cheerleaders and skaters to Olympics
NORTH KOREA warned last night that the regime would not discuss its nuclear weapons programme as it agreed to landmark talks with South Korea to defuse border tensions.
As the North agreed to send athletes and cheerleaders to next month’s Winter Olympics in South Korea and to hold further discussions over easing military pressure, Pyongyang drew a red line over its weapons programme, telling the South that its nuclear ambitions were a matter for the US only.
After the historic talks yesterday morning, Ri Son-gwon, the North’s chief negotiator, voiced strong disquiet over the mention of denuclearisation, saying: “North Korea’s weapons are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren, China or Russia.”
Mr Ri’s statement appeared to confirm the scepticism of some experts that Pyongyang’s latest olive branch is intended to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.
Tuesday’s talks saw the North and South come face to face for the first time since December 2015 at 10am in the Panmunjom “truce village”, which straddles the heavily fortified border that has divided the North and South for six decades. The agreement to host a Pyongyang contingent at the Olympics in March represents the most significant diplomatic breakthrough between the neighbours in years.
The tentative thaw in relations now means that Pyongyang will allow athletes, supporters, cheerleaders, art performers and a taekwondo demonstration team to attend the Feb 9-25 games in the ski resort of Pyeongchang.
The two nations, which are still technically at war, also pledged in a joint statement to negotiate further to deescalate military tensions and to restore a suspended military hotline.
After a year of sabre-rattling, the signs of a fragile détente, which arose unexpectedly after Kim Jong-un made conciliatory overtures in a New Year’s Day speech, raised distant hopes of a possible resolution over his nuclear weapons programme.
The meeting also discussed a potential reunion of families separated by the Korean War in the Fifties, with Seoul requesting this take place around the Lunar New Year of Feb 16.
But the most significant progress was made in an agreement to “actively cooperate” in making a success of the Winter Olympics. The rapprochement could result in athletes from both Koreas walking together during the opening ceremony.
While the inclusion of a cheering squad may have seemed like an odd negotiating priority, the role of cheerleaders has traditionally been an important political tool for North Korea.
It will fall on North Korean ice-skating stars Kim Ju-sik and Ryom Tae-ok, who earlier qualified for the Olympics. While the Olympics may present a turning point for diplomacy in the short term, moves towards easing military tensions could herald a more lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“We expressed the need to promptly resume dialogue for peace settlement, including denuclearisation, and based on the mutual respect (the two Koreas) cooperate and stop activities that would raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” said Chun Hae-sung, the South Korean unification minister.
Despite ongoing reservations from some quarters that North Korea could try to use its ties with South Korea to undermine UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests, Donald Trump called the fresh talks a “big start”.
Brian Hook, a senior adviser to Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, told reporters that “he [the president] hopes that positive development results from talks between the North and the South”. But the US did not believe that the improvement of relations between the North and South could advance separately from the issue of denuclearisation, he added.
‘North Korea’s weapons are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren, China or Russia’
♦ Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to develop smaller and more usable nuclear weapons, according to a policy review reportedly seen by a former Barack Obama aide.
Jon Wolfsthal, who was special assistant to Mr Obama on arms control and non-proliferation, said a draft of the review he had seen would loosen the constraints on America’s nuclear weapons. The review, which he said would be published within weeks, comes amid growing tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.