SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After holding consecutive summits with soaring but empty rhetoric, the two Korean leaders in their third try finally produced some substance.…
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After holding consecutive summits with soaring but empty rhetoric, the two Korean leaders in their third try finally produced some substance.
The meeting in Pyongyang on Wednesday came amid faltering nuclear negotiations between the U. S. and North Korea, which raised doubts about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s stated willingness to relinquish his arsenal. A look at what was achieved, and what wasn’t:
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DENUCLEARIZATION
According to a joint statement released by Seoul, North Korea agreed to permanently dismantle a launch pad and an engine-testing facility at its northwestern rocket-firing center in the presence of international experts. The North also said it could take further measures such as permanently dismantling its main Nyongbyon nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal measures.
While symbolic, the dismantling of the missile engine test site and launch pad wouldn’t represent a material step toward denuclearization of North Korea, which after a torrent of weapons tests last year declared its nuclear force as complete. The North has invested much effort to improve the mobility of its most powerful missiles, which are designed to be launched from vehicles. The level of access foreign experts will have at the North Korean sites is also unclear.
The move wouldn’t be entirely meaningless if Washington and Seoul could successfully argue that, in allowing outside experts, Kim accepted in principle that agreements should be verified. This could make it harder for Kim to reject inspections once the denuclearization process proceeds. The North unilaterally dismantled a nuclear testing ground earlier this year, but didn’t invite experts to observe the event.
Still, the discussions on the North’s denuclearization continue to fail to answer the basic questions of what, when and how. In the joint statement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim repeated their previous goals by saying that the Koreas would “closely cooperate in the process of pursuing the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The North for decades has been pushing a concept of denuclearization that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development until the U. S. removes its troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan. Some experts say that Washington is trying to shape the nuclear talks as a bilateral arms reduction negotiation between two nuclear states, instead of a process to surrender the North’s nukes. Kim in a news conference said that the Koreas will work toward turning the peninsula into a “land of peace with no nuclear weapons and no nuclear threat,” but that’s hardly a departure from its traditional stance.
The Korean leaders’ vague statement did not include a timeline despite South Korean officials earlier saying that Kim expressed a desire to denuclearize within President Donald Trump’s first term.
