Kim Jong Un warned the United States on Monday he had a «nuclear button» on his desk ready for use if North Korea was threatened, but offered an olive branch to South Korea, saying he was «open to dialogue» with Seoul.<\/b>
\nSEOUL (Reuters) — Kim Jong Un warned the United States on Monday he had a \u201cnuclear button\u201d on his desk ready for use if North Korea was threatened, but offered an olive branch to South Korea, saying he was \u201copen to dialogue\u201d with Seoul.
After a year dominated by fiery rhetoric and escalating tensions over Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear weapons program, the North Korean leader used his televised New Year\u2019s Day speech to declare his country \u201ca peace-loving and responsible nuclear power\u201d and call for lower military tensions and improved ties with the South.
\u201cWhen it comes to North-South relations, we should lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment,\u201d Kim said. \u201cBoth the North and the South should make efforts.\u201d
Kim said he would consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February.
\u201cNorth Korea\u2019s participation in the Winter Games will be a good opportunity to showcase the national pride and we wish the Games will be a success. Officials from the two Koreas may urgently meet to discuss the possibility,\u201d Kim said.
South Korea said it welcomed Kim\u2019s offer. But U. S.-based experts saw Kim\u2019s speech as a clear attempt to divide Seoul from its main ally, Washington, which has led an international campaign to pressure North Korea through sanctions to give up weapons programs aimed at developing nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.
\u201cWe have always stated our willingness to talk with North Korea anytime and anywhere if that would help restore inter-Korean relations and lead to peace on the Korean Peninsula,\u201d a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said.
Lee Hee-beom, president of the Pyeongchang Organizing Committee, said it welcomed North Korean participation and would \u201cdiscuss relevant matters with the South Korean government as well as the International Olympic Committee.\u201d
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea\u2019s participation would ensure the safety of the Olympics and proposed last month that Seoul and Washington postpone large military drills that the North denounces as a rehearsal for war until after the Games.
Asked to comment on Kim\u2019s speech, U. S. President Donald Trump said: \u201cWe\u2019ll see, we\u2019ll see,\u201d as he walked into a New Year\u2019s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
\u2018POKES AT THE FISSURE\u2019
The U. S. State Department did not respond to a requests for comment on Kim\u2019s New Year\u2019s address, but analysts said it was an attempt to weaken the U. S.-South Korean alliance.
\u201cThis speech pokes at the fissure that has lain below the surface in U. S.-South Korean relations, and seems designed to drive a wedge there,\u201d said Douglas Paal, a former senior U. S. diplomat who heads the Asia program at Washington\u2019s Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
\u201cPresident Moon needs a successful Olympics and the U. S. drive to increase pressure fits poorly with the Southern agenda.\u201d
Evans Revere, another former senior U. S. diplomat who took part in unofficial talks with North Korean officials last year, said Pyongyang would likely try to extract concessions as a \u201cprice\u201d for Olympics participation.
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine Seoul falling for this,\u201d he said, adding that Seoul and Washington had so far stayed in synch in the pressure and isolation campaign.
Revere said Kim\u2019s speech contained the strongest defense yet of North Korea\u2019s status as a permanently nuclear-armed country.
\u201cImplicit in Kim Jong Un\u2019s speech is a willingness to engage with others, including the United States, on the basis of their acceptance of the \u2018reality\u2019 of North Korea\u2019s permanent nuclear status. That\u2019s not a basis on which the United States is prepared to engage,\u201d he said.
Moon took office last May pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue. But North Korea snubbed his overtures, including an offer to hold inter-Korean military talks about ceasing hostile activities along the border, as it tested missiles at an unprecedented pace.
Kim said that rather than encouraging U. S. measures that \u201cthreaten the security and peace of the Korean peninsula,\u201d Seoul should instead respond to overtures from the North, and \u201cstop nuclear war exercises with foreign forces.\u201d
\u2018REALITY, NOT A THREAT\u2019
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test in September in defiance of international sanctions, raising fears of a new conflict on the Korean peninsula.
After North Korea tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in November, which it said was capable of delivering a warhead to anywhere in the United States, Kim declared his nuclear force complete.
He continued that theme in his New Year\u2019s address, announcing that North Korea would focus in 2018 on \u201cmass-producing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles for operational deployment\u201d.
That, Kim said, was \u201cirreversible with any force\u201d, making it impossible for the United States to start a war against North Korea.
\u201cThe whole territory of the U. S. is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office and this is just a reality, not a threat,\u201d he said, while emphasizing that the weapons would only be used if North Korea was threatened.
Kim\u2019s customary New Year\u2019s speech is closely watched for indications of the policy direction the unpredictable and reclusive leader is likely to pursue in the coming year.
Daniel Russel, the top U. S. diplomat for East Asia until last April and now at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said there was an argument to be made to encourage North Korea\u2019s Olympic participation but that it should not be taken too far.
\u201cIt\u2019s perfectly legitimate to dial down some of the signaling and the rhetoric… but not to load up their tray with concessions in advance. We should reward responsible behavior, but not try to bribe North Korea into behaving; that doesn\u2019t work,\u201d he said.
Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University in Seoul said Kim was likely to tone down his weapons testing — at least ahead of the Olympics.
\u201cWhat North Korea is most afraid of is being forgotten in the international arena,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout launching missiles and conducting a nuclear test, North Korea will be in the spotlight just by attending the Winter Olympics.\u201d
Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at Washington\u2019s conservative Center for the National Interest, said that if North Korea did participate in the Olympics, there could be a lull in tensions, but only a brief one.
\u201cAs we move into the spring, Pyongyang will once again test all different types of missiles and weapons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 20<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0.4<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 3<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 0<\/div>\n

TW likes: 0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n