US envoys push united front against Pyongyang
In Seoul talks, top officials stress value of alliance amid challenges
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and top US diplomat Antony Blinken met their Republic of Korea counterparts in Seoul on Wednesday to bolster a “united front” against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The talks are taking place against the backdrop of tensions resulting from military drills held by the two allies — actions that have angered the DPRK.
They come on the second leg of the US officials’ inaugural overseas trip, hot on the heels of their first stop in Japan — another leading security ally of the United States in Northeast Asia.
At the start of Austin’s first in-person talks with ROK Defense Minister Suh Wook, the US defense secretary called their alliance a “top priority”, as the alliance is facing “unprecedented challenges posed by both the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and China”.
The DPRK is moving up the agenda in the ROK, where the US stations 28,500 troops.
The allies kicked off joint military exercises last week and a senior DPRK official warned Washington this week against “causing a stink at its first step” if it wants to “sleep in peace for the coming four years”.
The statement by Kim Yo-jong, vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, was Pyongyang’s first explicit reference to the new administration in Washington, more than four months after Joe Biden was elected to replace Donald Trump.
Some experts say Kim’s statement is a pressure tactic to boost its leverage in future talks with the US.
Li Nan, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, highlighted the timing of the statement. He said Washington’s rhetoric of strengthening the alliance with
Seoul may bring more uncertainties to the Korean Peninsula.
The US envoys will meet on Thursday with ROK President Moon Jae-in, who brokered talks that were held between Kim Jong-un, the DPRK’s top leader, and Trump in 2018 on the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Analysts attach importance to the ROK’s role in easing the tensions on the peninsula as Moon has repeatedly tried to reach out to Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table.
‘2+2’ meeting
Austin and Blinken and their ROK counterparts will join a joint “2+2” meeting on Thursday, the first such contact between the two countries in five years.
US-led diplomacy on that last topic has been in limbo since a 2019 summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un ended with no agreements.
Li Chengri, another expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the DPRK had held hope for progress with the Trump administration but benefited nothing from it.
“Pyongyang has shifted to the path of self-reliance amid the deadlock with the US and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Li said. “The key always lies in the attitude of the US, and if the US refuses to budge on sanctions, the peninsula situation is likely to further deteriorate.”
Blinken said on Tuesday that Washington had reached out to Pyongyang through several channels starting in mid-February, but it hasn’t received any response. He said the Biden administration is keen to complete its policy review on the DPRK in the coming weeks and was looking both at possible “additional pressure measures” and “diplomatic paths”.
Shim Beomchul, an analyst with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said he expects the Biden administration to pursue a deal with the DPRK that resembles a 2015 accord that froze Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. But as the US won’t likely give up its long-term commitment, rolling back Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities to zero is not a realistic near-term goal, he said.