N. Korean softens tone for New Year
Kim calls for a successful Olympics
After a year filled with nuclear provocations that raised fears of a devastating war in Northeast Asia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un started 2018 on an optimistic note.
His call Monday for talks to ensure the success of the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month — and improve overall inter-Korean relations — represented a tactical shift for a regime that had previously ignored South Korea and shunned offers of dialogue.
President Moon Jae-in quickly welcomed the move and said he will coordinate with the international community as he pursues peace talks.
Today, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed that representatives of the two Koreas meet Jan. 9 at the border village of Panmunjom to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties.
Kim’s New Year’s Day speech was the most promising peace overture from North Korea since President
Donald Trump took office. Yet it will also test the strength of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, which became strained at times last year over the best way to halt North Korea’s nuclear threat. Analysts said the potential reprieve could undercut Trump’s tough approach to the nuclear-armed North, and it comes just days after Washington rallied its allies and rivals to support increasingly punishing United Nations sanctions against North Korea.
“After getting nowhere with the Americans, North Korea is now trying to start talks with South Korea first and then use that as a channel to start dialogue with the United States,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
While Moon said South Korea would talk with no preconditions, the U.S. has repeatedly said that it can’t speak directly with North Korea until it’s willing to get rid of its nuclear weapons. Kim made clear on Monday that wouldn’t happen: He called North Korea’s nuclear deterrent “irreversible,” claimed the entire U.S. was in range and vowed to build more atomic warheads.
When asked about Kim’s threats at a New Year’s Eve gathering, Trump said: “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, about 50 miles from the North Korean border, provides an occasion to reduce tensions. Moon has repeatedly urged North Korea to participate, and Kim said on Monday that “we sincerely hope the games will be successful.”
“It’s about time that the North and the South sit down and seriously discuss how to improve inter-Korean relations by ourselves and dramatically open up,” said Kim, wearing a Western-style gray suit and tie. He added that officials from both countries should “urgently meet” to discuss the possibility of North Korea sending a delegation to the Olympics.
Moon officially supports the enforcement of U.N. sanctions. In recent weeks, his government has seized two oil tankers on the suspicion that they were used in violation of the sanctions to smuggle refined petroleum products into North Korea through ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas.
But the South Korean president also agrees with China and Russia that talks are needed to resolve the nuclear crisis.
“Kim Jong Un is using the Pyeongchang Olympics as a way to weaken the sanctions,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “He is seeking to create a fissure between Seoul and Washington and between Washington and Beijing.”
Kim made one longstanding demand during his speech on state-run television: that South Korea halt all military exercises with U.S. forces. Moon has already signaled some flexibility on this point, telling NBC last month that he’s asked the U.S. to postpone annual drills until after the Olympics.
During the talks, North Korea may look for other concessions to participate in the Olympics, such as lifting sanctions, resuming economic cooperation and providing humanitarian aid, according to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a group affiliated with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.
The United Nations Security Council last month approved its strongest sanctions yet on North Korea — a move that Pyongyang described as an “act of war.” The country is prohibited from exporting goods such as seafood, coal and textiles, and has seen curbs on the amount of oil it’s able to import.
Last year Trump engaged in a war of words with Kim, with the two leaders trading insults through the media. Trump has said he could unleash “fire and fury” and “totally destroy North Korea,” while North Korea has suggested it could conduct a hydrogen bomb test over the Pacific.
Even so, Trump floated the idea of friendship with Kim on occasion, and has called on him to “make a deal” on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Increasingly anxious over a possible armed conflict, Moon seeks to create a lull in the nuclear standoff during the Olympics and use its momentum to start talks with North Korea. Such talks, he hopes, might eventually lead to broader negotiations in which the United States, China and other regional stakeholders could offer economic and diplomatic incentives to the North in return for the freeze and eventual dismantling of its nuclear weapons program.
While Kim’s speech provides an opening, a lasting resolution remains far away. The U.S. in particular has said it will never accept North Korea as a nuclear power, and the Trump administration has said military action is possible to prevent it from acquiring a credible nuclear threat.
“After getting nowhere with the Americans, North Korea is now trying to start talks with South Korea first and then use that as a channel to start dialogue with the United States.” —Yang Moo-jin, a South Korean professor