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| This photo released on Nov. 19 by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, inspecting what is identified as a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, Nov. 18. Yonhap |
US willingness to resolve nuclear issue in question
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea may propose talks with the United States next year amid speculation that the Joe Biden administration or another Democratic Party candidate could win reelection, a researcher of a Seoul-based think tank said, Thursday.
"North Korea has refused to sit down with the United States over nuclear negotiations, maintaining a confrontational mode with Washington until the 2024 U.S. presidential election," Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow of The Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said during a press conference on the prospects of the international situation for 2023, held at the institute in Seoul.
"However, as the results of the recent U.S. midterm elections indicate that Biden or the Democratic Party may win the presidential election again, meaning it should 'co-exist' with them for six more years, North Korea may make a surprise proposal to the U.S. for talks."
Go added: "It is not very likely, but I think there is a higher possibility than before."
Since the breakdown of the Hanoi summit between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in January 2019, nuclear talks have made little progress, with Pyongyang remaining unresponsive to South Korean and U.S. overtures for dialogue.
Meanwhile, forecasting that North Korea will continue to stage military provocations next year to improve its competitive edge in negotiations with the U.S. and take the initiative on the Korean Peninsula, Choi Kang, the president of the think tank, questioned the sincerity of the Biden administration in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue.
Since May, North Korea is believed to have fully prepared for a possible seventh nuclear test.
"I can't but worry about how high the North Korean nuclear issue is on the U.S. foreign policy," Choi said.
"Earlier this month, the top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan met in Jakarta. I cannot figure out what they discussed there, but given that they met in Jakarta, not Washington, D.C., the meeting venue itself is raising suspicions regarding if the U.S. is willing to resolve the issue."
According to Choi, the North Korean nuclear issue requires the cooperation and coordination of many relevant organizations in Washington, D.C.
Choi also questioned how much the U.S. nuclear envoy, Sung Kim, can focus on the North Korea issue, while doubling as the ambassador to Indonesia.
"I think the Biden administration should sort it out."
The new South Korean government under President Yoon Suk-yeol has looked to the U.S.' extended deterrence against North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats. In addition, Seoul and Washington have reactivated regular meetings of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG), a high-level consultative mechanism to achieve the North's denuclearization through steadfast deterrence.
However, Choi said the U.S. has failed to detail its commitment to extended deterrence.
"The U.S. said it will provide as many strategic assets as South Korea wants, but it lacks substantiation. In that sense, the U.S. side needs to go into detail about the commitment," he said.
Go also said the U.S. handling of North Korea's advancing nuclear capability is quite inadequate.
"The U.S. tells South Korea to trust its commitment to extended deterrence, but when its current strategy is no different from when North Korea's nuclear capability was not as strong," he said.
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