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NKOREA-US-NUCLEAR-DIPLOMACY
N. Korea demands security guarantees for nuclear talks
SEOUL, Sept 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea on Monday demanded the United
States provide security guarantees as a precondition to resuming deadlocked
nuclear talks, dampening hopes for progress at a working-level dialogue
expected in the coming weeks.
Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have been gridlocked since a
second summit between the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald
Trump in February ended without a deal.
The pair agreed to restart working-level dialogue during an impromptu
meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in June, and
Pyongyang last week offered to hold those talks in late September, a move the
US said was “encouraging”.
But hours later, Pyongyang carried out the latest in a series of weapons
tests.
A senior official from the North’s foreign ministry said Monday that
“discussion of denuclearization may be possible when threats and hurdles
endangering our system security and obstructing our development are clearly
removed beyond all doubt”.
North Korea has always insisted that security guarantees would be
necessary as part of any deal — but it has not generally demanded them as a
precursor to negotiations.
The director-general of the department of US affairs, who was not named,
said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency that
working-level talks were expected to be held “in a few weeks”.
It was up to Washington whether it would prove to be an opportunity or “an
occasion to precipitate crisis”, he added.
“A proposal that the U.S. put forward at the negotiations may improve the
relations and, on the contrary, may add to the hostility towards each other.”
Pyongyang has also threatened to pull out of talks with Washington and has
blasted senior US officials in recent months.
Despite the escalation in tensions, Trump has insisted his relationship
with Kim remains unharmed, and the pair have exchanged personal letters in
the absence of talks.
The North Korean leader asked Trump to visit Pyongyang in a letter sent
last month, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Monday, repeating
an invitation issued at their last meeting in the DMZ.
At their first summit in Singapore last year, Kim and Trump adopted a
vaguely-worded statement on the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean
peninsula” but little progress has since been made on dismantling the North’s
nuclear programme.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1426 hrs