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Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy and Alicia Sanders-Zakre is research assistant at the Arms Control Association. This article first appeared in the Inaugural Issue: The North Korea Denuclearization Digest on October 3,2018. It is being reproduced courtesy Arms Control Association. – The Editor
WASHIGTON, D. C. (IDN-INPS) – After a long pause in U. S.-North Korea talks on denuclearization and peace, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Japan, China, North Korea, and South Korea October 6-8. He will visit Pyongyang October 7 and is expected to meet with Chairman Kim Jong-un.
Pompeo’s trip could potentially jump-start action-for-action steps designed to advance the objectives agreed to by President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim at their Summit in Singapore – and possibly pave the way for a second summit later this year.
The meeting in Pyongyang follows a busy round of multilateral and bilateral discussions on North Korea at the opening session of the 73rd UN General Assembly. U. S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in both touted progress in negotiations with North Korea during their addresses to the General Assembly, but North Korea’s foreign minister called out the Trump administration’s focus on sanctions enforcement as “lethal” and an impediment to his country’s nuclear disarmament.
According to an interview with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha published October 3 in The Washington Post, South Korea wants the United States to hold off, for now, on a demand for an inventory of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and accept the verified decommissioning of a North Korean major nuclear complex at Yongbyon as a next step in the negotiations.
“In exchange for the verified dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, the United States would declare an end to the Korean War, a key demand of Pyongyang that U. S. officials have been reluctant to make absent a major concession by North Korea,” the Post reports.
Trump, speaking at the General Assembly September 25, characterized his June encounter with Kim as “highly productive” and noted that both sides agreed that denuclearization is in both countries’ interest. Trump said while “encouraging measures were taken” since the Singapore summit, “much work is yet to be done.”
At a news conference the following day, Trump emphasized his good relationship with Kim and pushed back against critics claiming that the denuclearization process is at a stalemate. Trump said work is being done behind the scenes, and that he did not want to put a timeline on denuclearization.
In his September 26 UN address, Moon praised Trump for his leadership and highlighted the successes for the inter-Korean process to date. He noted that at the most recent meeting between the two leaders in Pyongyang September 19, Kim committed to “permanently dismantle the missile engine test site and launch platform” under international observation “in order to expedite progress in denuclearization.
Moon said that ending the Korean War is “an urgent task” and looked forward to seeing “bold measures for denuclearization implemented among the related countries, leading to the declaration to end the War.” North Korea has made similar calls for a declaration as necessary for strengthening peace and security on the peninsula and denuclearization and the United States has signaled its willingness to discuss the topic at the next meeting between Trump and Kim.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addressed the UN September 29, and said that the recent deadlock in talks between the United States and North Korea is “because the U. S. relies on coercive measures which are lethal to trust-building,” He listed a number of steps that North Korea has taken, including halting nuclear and missile tests, but said Pyongyang is waiting to see a “corresponding response from the United States.” Ri denounced the Trump administration’s plan of “denuclearization first” and said that without trust, his country will not disarm.
Pompeo met briefly with Ri September 26. Few details about the meeting were provided, but the State Department confirmed shortly afterward that Pompeo will travel to Pyongyang to discuss the implementation of the Singapore summit document and a second summit between Trump and Kim.
Steve Biegun, the new special envoy for North Korea, will likely accompany him. The two were set to travel to North Korea in early September, but Trump canceled the trip citing a lack of progress. Biegun did visit Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo in mid-September and while in Seoul he met with Moon, who urged hi m to play a “constructive role” in negotiations.
USA spars with Russia, China on sanctions
At a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to North Korea September 27, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for vigorous enforcement of all UN Security Council sanctions “without fail until we realize the fully, final, verified denuclearization” of North Korea. Pompeo, who chaired the session, credited the “historic international pressure campaign” with pushing Kim to the negotiating table, but said more needed to be done to cut off funds “that go directly” to North Korea’s nuclear program.
