July / August 2021
By Sang-Min Kim
North Korea is rejecting offers from the United States to establish diplomatic contacts, thus signaling a reduced potential for discussion about the North Korean nuclear weapons program and other important topics for the foreseeable future.
The latest reprimand came from Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon, who said on June 23 that, according to a translation of the website, North Korea “is not thinking of meaningless contact with the US or the possibility of losing valuable time”. North.
The minister’s remarks, reported by the state news agency, came after Sung Kim, the US special envoy for North Korea, announced on June 21 that he was ready to meet North Korean officials “anytime, anywhere, without any preconditions.”
A day earlier, US security advisor Jake Sullivan, who appeared on ABC News, described statements by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a recent party meeting as an “interesting signal”. Kim said he was preparing for “dialogue and confrontation” in dealing with the new Biden government.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, warned Washington on June 22nd not to misinterpret signals from Pyongyang because it would “collapse” [the United States] into a greater disappointment. “
Pyongyang has also resisted efforts to get engagement from Seoul, which reportedly called North Korea every day for the past year without a response.
Meanwhile, North Korea started operating the steam facility in its Yongbyon radiochemical laboratory in February, which, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is a plausible time span for a reprocessing campaign to produce weapons-grade plutonium from spent fuel for nuclear weapons. .
Although reprocessing cannot be confirmed, the “nuclear activity of the North” remains a matter of serious concern. The continuation of [its] The nuclear program is a clear violation of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and is deeply regrettable, “said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on June 7th before the Board of Governors of the agency.
A reprocessing campaign would increase Pyongyang’s stocks of nuclear weapons-grade material. It is estimated that North Korea already has enough fissile material for 40 to 50 nuclear warheads, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2021.
North Korea has also continued to operate some of its other nuclear facilities, including the Yongbyon experimental light water reactor and a suspected second enrichment site in Kangson, Grossi reported. The IAEA observed no ongoing operations at Yongbyon’s five-megawatt electric reactor, which can produce seven kilograms of plutonium annually, or the complex’s centrifuge-enrichment facility, which produces enriched uranium, he added.
The United States has failed to halt the North’s nuclear weapons program for decades. President Joe Biden recently made promises of new diplomatic policies, and US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on June 3 that the appointment of veteran diplomat Sung Kim as Special Envoy for North Korea signals a “willingness to enter into dialogue.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Forces Committee on June 10 that Washington would focus on the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and work to mitigate its destabilizing and provocative behavior, which precedes diplomacy.
The Group of Seven Industrialized Countries adopted a stronger tone in their summit communiqué of June 13, calling for “the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the verifiable and irrevocable abandonment of the [North Korea’s] illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs. “
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also dealt with regional states affected by North Korea’s behavior. His Special Envoy for Korean Peninsula Affairs, Liu Xiaoming, had a phone call on June 7 with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov to discuss views on the Korean Peninsula and reiterated China’s desire to “play constructive roles”.
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Chinese Political Bureau and Director of the Foreign Affairs Office, spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone on June 11 and pledged to work together on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
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