NK breaks silence on diplomacy
Pyongyang denies that sanctions forced hand
PYONGYANG: North Korea has broken its silence on the diplomatic thaw with Washington and Seoul, saying it is driving the “peace offensive” and rejecting suggestions that sanctions forced it to the negotiating table.
The commentary from the state-run KCNA news agency came with a rapid rapprochement on the Korean peninsula under way, after a period of heightened tensions stoked by missile and nuclear tests.
In order to prepare an inter-Korean summit scheduled for late April, South Korea yesterday proposed holding highlevel talks with the North next week to discuss details including the summit’s dates and agenda.
But as diplomats scurry to arrange the North-South talks — and a mooted face-toface meet between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un — the North’s silence had raised concerns over its intentions.
The KCNA commentary late on Tuesday did not directly mention the summits but noted the “dramatic atmosphere for reconciliation” with the South and “a sign of change” with the US.
It said Pyongyang’s overtures came from a position of strength, not from weakness, even as it confronts intense international pressure as well as biting economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme.
“The dialogue peace offensive of the DPRK is an expression of self-confidence as it has acquired everything it desires,” it said, using the North’s official name.
It also slammed hawks in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo for questioning the sincerity and motivation behind the North’s willingness to step back from the brink.
“Such rubbish as ‘result of sanctions and pressure’ … spread by hostile forces is just as meaningless as a dog barking at the moon.”
“It is really an expression of small-mindedness for the riff-raffs to spoil the atmosphere and say this or that even before the parties concerned are given a chance to study the inner thoughts of the other side and are seated at a negotiating table,” it said in typically colourful language.
Since floating the idea for a summit with the US, “the North has been carefully watching how the situation is developing, including the US-South Korea joint military drills, before making it public to the people”, Professor Kim Yong-hyun at Dongguk University said.
The South and the US announced on Tuesday a plan to resume annual joint military exercises on April 1, with its main drill shortened by a month — in an apparent conciliatory gesture over an event that infuriates the North.
Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies said the North also needs to prepare its people for a drastic policy turnaround toward the United States.
“The North won’t confirm the two summits until dates and venues are fixed and it needs to educate its people through party cells slowly for a policy U-turn”, Mr Yang said.
The North’s state media has not reported any public activities by Mr Kim since March 6, when it said he held talks with South Korean envoys.
Mr Kim learned of South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s intention for an interKorean summit from the envoys, exchanged views and made a “satisfactory agreement,” the North’s KCNA said at that time.
Mr Trump’s announcement earlier this month that he was willing to meet with the North’s young leader — after an invitation conveyed by envoys from the South — has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.
The North’s foreign minister Ri Yong-ho met his counterpart from Sweden, which represents Washington’s interests in North Korea, in Stockholm over the weekend, with reports saying they discussed the release of three Americans detained in the North.
Choe Kang-il, a senior Pyongyang diplomat, is currently in Finland for discussions with the retired former US ambassador to Seoul, Kathleen Stephens.
Mr Moon yesterday said a three-way summit including the two Koreas and the US could be possible.