[The end-of-war declaration “can never be a bargaining chip for getting the D.P.R.K. denuclearized,” the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “If the U.S. doesn’t want the end of war, the D.P.R.K. will also not particularly hope for it.”]
By Choe Sang-Hun
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Senior military officials watching a parade in
Pyongyang, North Korea, last month.
A commentary by the North’s state-run news
agency on Tuesday indicated a
tougher stance in talks with the United States
this month.
Credit Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
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SEOUL,
South Korea — Ramping up
pressure on the United States, North Korea on Tuesday accused the Trump
administration of demanding too much but offering too few concessions in its
negotiations over the terms of denuclearizing the North.
Up to now, North Korea has demanded almost
daily that the United States join North and South Korea in declaring an end to
the Korean War as an initial confidence-building concession from Washington
before taking steps to denuclearize. The war was halted with a truce in 1953
but a peace treaty was never signed.
The United States insists that before it
grants any concessions to North Korea, the North must do more to keep its end
of the deal Kim Jong-un reached in his talks with President Trump in Singapore
in June — when the North Korean leader promised to “work toward the complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
United States officials and analysts have
called on the North to submit a full inventory of its nuclear program for
verification and to start dismantling its nuclear and missile facilities.
But on Tuesday, North Korea called such
demands “rubbish.”
The end-of-war declaration “can never be a
bargaining chip for getting the D.P.R.K. denuclearized,” the North’s state-run
Korean Central News Agency said, using the acronym for the country’s official
name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “If the U.S. doesn’t want the
end of war, the D.P.R.K. will also not particularly hope for it.”
The commentary indicates the North will drive
a hard bargain when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo makes his fourth visit to
Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, this month. Mr. Pompeo has accepted an
invitation to visit the North to narrow differences over the terms of
denuclearizing and arrange a new summit meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump.
Speaking at the United Nations General
Assembly last week, the North’s foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, said his
country’s willingness to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula so it could focus on
economic development should not be questioned. But Mr. Ri reiterated that North
Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons “unilaterally” before Washington
proves its trustworthiness by taking “corresponding” steps. He cited
Washington’s campaign to escalate sanctions as evidence of continuing American
hostility.
On Tuesday, North Korea cited good-will
gestures it said it has taken to demonstrate a willingness to move toward
denuclearization. Since April, it has declared a moratorium on nuclear and
long-range ballistic missile tests and demolished its only-known nuclear test
site.
When he met with President Moon Jae-in of
South Korea in Pyongyang last month, Mr. Kim also offered to demolish key
missile development facilities, including a missile engine test site, and
invite outside experts to watch.
Mr. Kim also offered to take further steps,
including the “permanent dismantlement” of his country’s main nuclear complex,
in Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, if Washington took
corresponding steps.
But such gestures have fallen short of
American demands. North Korea has not offered a detailed commitment to
dismantling its nuclear arsenal. Nor has it submitted its nuclear inventory,
including the number and size of its nuclear weapons and amount of bomb fuel,
so they can be verified by international inspectors.
But North Korea said Tuesday that the United
States has not done enough. Other than suspending joint military exercises with
South Korea this year, Washington has done little to encourage North Korea to
take bolder steps toward denuclearization, the North said.
It said Washington should have made the
end-of-war declaration a long time ago, instead of trying to use it as a
bargaining chip.
Some analysts in Washington and Seoul, the
South’s capital, fear that the North would use an end-of-war declaration as a
justification to step up its campaign for the withdrawal of 28,500 American
troops based in the South.
Mr. Moon, the South’s leader, supports an
end-of-war declaration. But he says that he and Mr. Kim share an understanding
that the declaration would not affect the status of American troops in South
Korea, and would serve only as a prelude to negotiating a peace treaty to
formally end the war.
Mr. Moon is banking on Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump
to use their personal ties to create a breakthrough in the stalled nuclear
talks. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump said that he and Mr. Kim “fell in love”
after he received “beautiful” letters from the young North Korean dictator.
