NK-US nuclear talks will be delayed until end of year

North Korea is unwilling to hold nuclear talks with the United States as of now, and will continue to delay the dialogue until the year-end deadline set by the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un, experts said Tuesday. The negotiation between Washington and Pyongyang on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has faced ups and downs this year following the failure of the Hanoi summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim in February.

But with two of the world’s most unpredictable leaders holding an unexpected “mini summit” at the inter-Korean border area on June 30, expectations resurfaced over the possible resumption of dialogue.

At that time, the North also expressed its determination to resume working-level talks with the U.S. “in the next few weeks” following the meeting. Pyongyang, however, did not keep the promise, citing a number of excuses, such as a joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington.

Experts here said chances remain very slim that the two sides will resume their working-level or high-level dialogue anytime soon, as they have yet to narrow their differences on denuclearization.

Washington wants to sign a oneshot big deal to achieve complete denuclearization of the peninsula, but Pyongyang is still sticking to its previous position of taking a step-bystep approach.

“As of now, the two countries are showing no signs of making concessions, so it is unlikely that the North will respond to the repeated U.S. calls to resume nuclear talks,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.

“My view is that they will not be able to hold any sort of official talks by the end of this year,” he said. “But there still stands an ample chance for Trump and Kim to hold a summit sometime later this year to make a breakthrough in their stalled dialogue momentum.”

On top of that, there is less urgency for the North to restart the talks amid growing security uncertainties on the southern side of the peninsula, which is a boon for Pyongyang.

The trilateral security alliance among Seoul, Tokyo and Washington has in recent weeks shown signs of a possible crack in the wake of the South’s decision to scrap a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.