NORTH KOREA’S PLEDGE TO HALT NUCLEAR TESTS EASES TENSION
NORTH KOREAN LEADER ANNOUNCES ‘FRESH CLIMATE OF DETENTE AND PEACE’
>> SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jongun said he would halt nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, in an announcement yesterday welcomed by US President Donald Trump ahead of a muchanticipated summit between the two men.
Pyongyang’s declaration, long sought by Washington, will be seen as a crucial step in the fast diplomatic dance on and around the Korean peninsula.
It comes less than a week before the North Korean leader meets South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the peninsula, ahead of the eagerly-awaited encounter with Mr Trump himself.
But Mr Kim gave no indication Pyongyang might be willing to give up its nuclear weapons, or the missiles with which it can reach the mainland United States.
The North had successfully developed its arsenal, including miniaturising warheads to fit them on to missiles, Mr Kim said, and so “no nuclear test and intermediate-range and inter-continental ballistic rocket testfire are necessary for the DPRK now”.
As such the North’s nuclear testing site was no longer needed, he told the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, according to the official KCNA news agency.
The party decided that nuclear blasts and ICBM launches will cease as of Saturday— the North has not carried any out since November — and the atomic test site at Punggye-ri will be dismantled to “transparently guarantee” the end of testing.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said yesterday Thailand is ready to host a planned meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Kim if they choose the country as a venue for the historic event.
“Thailand is prepared and ready to promote world peace,” said Gen Prawit, but noted there is no gesture or signal from either the US and North Korea so far.
Gen Prawit made the remark after Bloomberg reported that Bangkok is one of nine possible locations being considered for the Trump-Kim summit expected in early June.
According to Bloomberg, Mr Trump said five locations are under consideration for his planned meeting with the North Korea leader but he did not identify the locations.
The other eight are Geneva, Helsinki, Singapore, Stockholm, Oslo, Prague, Warsaw, and Ulaanbaatar, according to Bloomberg.
Bangkok has the potential because the US embassy in Thailand is one of its largest and it hosts a North Korean embassy.
The deputy prime minister also dismissed speculation that the country might become a target if the Trump-Kim meeting took place here, saying Thailand is a neutral country and the meeting should help ease the tense situation all around.
Gen Prawit, also defence minister, left tonight for a visit to the US at the invitation of the Pentagon.
The first official visit by the Thai defence minister to the US in over a decade, he is scheduled to meet US Defence Secretary James Mattis to bolster military cooperation and the security strategy of both countries and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Claire Grady.
>> SEOUL: Minutes after Kim Jong-un made the announcement, Mr Trump tweeted — “This is very good news for North Korea and the World — big progress! Look forward to our Summit”.
Seoul too welcomed the announcement, calling it “meaningful progress” towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
However, Kim Jong-un offered no sign he might be willing to give up what he called the North’s “treasured sword”, saying its possession of nuclear weapons was “the firm guarantee by which our descendants can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world”.
Pyongyang has made rapid technological progress in its weapons programmes under Mr Kim, which has seen it subjected to increasingly strict sanctions by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union, South Korea and others.
Last year it carried out its sixth nuclear blast, by far its most powerful to date, while Mr Kim and Mr Trump traded threats of war and personal insults as tensions ramped up.
Even when there was an extended pause in testing, US officials said that it could not be interpreted as a halt without an explicit statement from Pyongyang.
South Korean envoys have previously cited Mr Kim as promising no more tests, but yesterday’s news is the first such announcement directly by Pyongyang.
Analysts cautioned that the declaration was promising but limited. “Certainly this is a positive development,” said Daniel Pinkston of Troy University. “It’s a necessary but not sufficient step in North Korea returning to its past non-proliferation commitments”.
Christopher Green of the International Crisis Group added on Twitter: “I don’t see how North Korean statement constitutes a step toward denuclearisation. It is a moratorium on testing, but recommits North Korea to nuclear weapons status”.
Japan gave a mixed response, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offering a cautious welcome but his defence minister saying North Korea did not mention the short or medium-range missiles that put Tokyo within reach.
Beijing, its traditional ally, reacted positively to the statement saying it believed the move would “help to promote the process of denuclearisation and attempts to find a political settlement” on the peninsula.
The formal declaration of an end to testing comes after Mr Kim reiterated the North’s nuclear status in his New Year speech and said he had a nuclear button on his desk — prompting Mr Trump to tweet that he had a bigger one of his own.
Events have moved rapidly since then, catalysed by the Winter Olympics in the South. With Seoul now pushing for a formal peace treaty as it seeks to officially end the Korean War, hopes are raised that a compromise can finally be reached on the peninsula plagued with conflict for over half a century.
But there is a long way to go and Mr Moon himself acknowledged this week that the “devil is in the details”.
The US is seeking the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the North, while according to Mr Moon, Pyongyang wants security guarantees, potentially leaving much space for disagreement.
The North has long demanded the withdrawal of US troops from the peninsula and an end to its nuclear umbrella over South Korea.
But Mr Kim told the Workers’ Party meeting: “A fresh climate of detente and peace is being created on the Korean peninsula and the region and dramatic changes are being made in the international political landscape”.
For years, the impoverished North has pursued a byungjin policy of “simultaneous development” of both the military and the economy. But the leader said that as it was now a powerful state, “the whole party and country” should concentrate on “socialist economic construction”.
Several factors have driven the Korean rapprochement, including the North feeling that it can now negotiate from a position of strength, concern about the belligerence of the Trump administration, and the looming impact of sanctions.