Three days before the Blingan-Austin tour… Why the US revealed “No answer to North Korea”

The US government announced on the 13th (local time) that it tried to contact North Korea from the middle of last month, but there was no answer. At the time when the Biden administration’s review of North Korea policy is coming to an end and discussions between the ROK-US diplomatic authorities are in full swing. There must be a separate intention to preemptively disclose sensitive diplomatic matters.Iranian analysis comes out.

Reuters quoted an anonymous US government official on the day, “The Biden administration tried to talk to North Korea through various channels, including the North Korean delegation to the United Nations in New York, but there was no answer.”He said. Immediately after inquiries about the report The U.S. government gives an unusually specific answerdid. First of all, it was revealed that there was an attempt to contact North Korea as reported. “This was to alleviate the heightened tensions,” he said. “In the past, the US tried to contact North Korea several times over the past year, but no active dialogue took place.” The current biden administration’s policy review process toward North Korea was also explained in detail, such as “combining opinions of the government, civilian experts, and think tank personnel, and exchanging opinions with allies such as Korea and Japan.”

In many cases, the government does not disclose the facts of matters that have traveled through diplomatic channels in general, even if related reports are released. Especially In the case of sensitive matters such as North Korea-U.S. contact, it is customary to say “cannot be confirmed”All. However, it was emphasized that the Biden administration made immediate efforts to confirm the facts, reviewing North Korea policy from the beginning of its inauguration, and attempting dialogue.

The announcement of the US position came three days ahead of the ‘2+2 talks’ between the ROK-US diplomatic and defense authorities on the occasion of the visits of US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the 17th-18th. While the main agenda of the talks is to deal with the new US policy toward North Korea, the US side may have preemptively revealed that’we have done our best, but it is North Korea that has not responded to the dialogue’. If the ROK side makes a proposal that deviates from the US principle of North Korea, such as easing sanctions with the resumption of full-blown dialogue in mind, there is a reason to reject it. Shin Beom-cheol, director of the Center for Foreign Affairs and Security at the Institute for Economics and Social Affairs, said, “The US side is likely to emphasize the existing principle of maintaining sanctions and pressure, but keeping the door open for dialogue, saying,’We have already contacted independently, but North Korea has no answer.’ “And analyzed.

In addition to the North Korean delegation in New York announced by the US government, multiple channels were reported to be used as a channel through which the US proposed dialogue to North Korea. However, it is unlikely that South Korea played a role in delivering US messages to North Korea. This is because direct communication channels such as the Panmunjom channel were established as the dialogue between North Korea and the United States proceeded in earnest in 2018. The United States is likely to have used these direct channels. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officialIn this regard “We have been sufficiently shared in the entire process of the US attempting to contact North Korea.”Said.

North Korea has not shown any reaction to enter the 7th day after the ROK-US joint exercise began. Earlier, there has been no immediate backlash, despite the fact that North Korea’s Chairman of the State Council Kim Jong-un referred to the US-ROK joint training as an’essential issue’ at the party conference in January and requested to stop the training. The fact that North Korea is silent about both the US dialogue attempts and joint exercises Strategy to wait first until the biden administration’s review of North Korea policy is completeIs solved. First of all, it is an attitude that it will subordinate external issues and focus on internal reforms such as the Five-Year Economic Development Plan. The North Korean issue is also expected to rise to a major agenda at the high-level US-China talks held in Alaska on the 19th, and there are variables related to China. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the North Korean Graduate School, said, “At the time the Biden administration’s public pressure comes to life, North Korea will be judging whether it is right to negotiate with the United States aside China.Explained.

Meanwhile, the US-led ‘quad’(Quad, the security cooperation of the four countries of the United States, Japan, India and Australia) held the first summit on video on the 12th (local time) and said, “We will, according to the resolution of the UN Security Council, ‘Complete denuclearization of North Korea’“We reaffirm our position on North Korea.” In a video speech at the disarmament conference held in Geneva, Switzerland on the 22nd (local time), Minister Blincoln said, “We are focusing on the denuclearization of North Korea.” Emphasis on’Denuclearization of North Korea’ instead of’Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’did. Earlier, China and North Korea have arbitrarily interpreted’denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’ with the removal of the nuclear umbrella in mind. In a statement from a government spokesman in July 2016, North Korea called for the withdrawal of US forces in Korea and the suspension of the deployment of strategic assets, saying that it is a prerequisite for’denuclearization of the Korean peninsula’.

Reporter Park Hyun-joo [email protected]