[The North Korean Foreign Ministry warned that unless sanctions were lifted and Washington stopped behaving “arrogantly,” North Korea could reinstate “pyongjin” — its policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear weapons program alongside seeking economic development.]
By
Simon Denyer
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A protester in Seoul
tosses a banner showing President Trump and North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un during a
rally opposing U.S. pressures on Pyongyang on Nov. 3.
(Ahn Young-Joon/AP)
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TOKYO — North Korea has threatened to restart
the development of its nuclear weapons program unless the United States lift
sanctions, underscoring one of the major potential stumbling blocks in
Washington’s diplomatic outreach with Kim Jong Un.
The Trump administration has insisted that
sanctions and other pressures remain on North Korea until it dismantles its
nuclear program. Kim’s regime, however, has always demanded a step-by-step
process of denuclearization that would include lifting U.S. sanctions along the
way.
A statement released late Friday by North
Korea’s Foreign Ministry is the latest indication that negotiations over
Pyongyang’s nuclear program have hit an impasse.
The issue of sanctions has also created a
rift between Seoul and Washington.
South Korea has backed the North’s call for
sanctions relief, and is keen to get moving on an ambitious program of economic
development and cooperation, including building road and rail links across
their heavily militarized frontier.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry warned that
unless sanctions were lifted and Washington stopped behaving “arrogantly,”
North Korea could reinstate “pyongjin” — its policy of simultaneously
developing its nuclear weapons program alongside seeking economic development.
In April, North Korean leader Kim declared
that the country’s nuclear weapons program was sufficiently advanced, and that
the policy of “pyongjin” would replaced by a single focus on improving the
economy. Backtracking could reignite tensions with the United States.
Still, neither side has turned its back on
negotiations.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told
journalists that he will meet his North Korean “counterpart” for further talks
next week, although he did not specify exactly when, where or with whom those
talks would take place.
Pompeo met Kim in Pyongyang last month, and
says he secured a promise to allow American inspectors into two nuclear and
missile testing sites to check on their dismantlement.
Speaking on “The Laura Ingraham Show” last
week, Pompeo said a summit between Kim and President Trump could happen early
next year and enable “a substantial breakthrough in taking down the nuclear
threat from North Korea.”
“We're still happy that they haven't
conducted a nuclear test in an awfully long time and they haven't launched a
missile in an awfully long time,” Pompeo said, adding that Kim had made clear
to him he intends to denuclearize but that much more work remained to be done.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News
on Friday, Pompeo reiterated that “a lot of work” remains to be done, but
added: “I’m confident that we will keep the economic pressure in place until
such time as Chairman Kim fulfills the commitment he made to President Trump
back in June in Singapore.”
That oft-repeated refrain about pressure is
the problem in Pyongyang’s eyes. North Korea argues that Trump promised Kim in
June that a new era in relations was beginning.
“The improvement of relations and sanctions
are incompatible,” the Foreign Ministry commentary said. “‘Friendship’ is
incompatible with ‘pressure.’”
It asked Washington to abandon its “foolish
daydream” that sanctions and pressure will lead to denuclearization. “We cannot
help laughing at such a foolish idea,” it said.
The United States, it added, was making a big
mistake if it believed that North Korea would agree to unilateral disarmament
as long as sanctions remain in place, and argued that negotiations should be
“simultaneous and phased” and based on “reciprocity and equality.”
“If the U.S. keeps behaving arrogantly
without showing any change in its stand, while failing to properly understand
our repeated demand, the DPRK may add one thing to the state policy for
directing all efforts to the economic construction adopted in April and as a
result, the word ‘pyongjin’ may appear again,” the statement said, using the
common abbreviation of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea.
“The U.S. will be able to dodge piteous
future that may do harm to itself and the world only when it gives up
highflying desire and one-sided viewpoint,” it wrote.
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