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Seoul, Washington turn cold shoulder to N.K. overture 

By Shin Hyon-hee

North Korea’s surprise offer of dialogue with the U.S. on Sunday was met with a frosty reaction by Seoul and Washington, which both call on Pyongyang to prove sincerity with its actions before resuming talks.

Pyongyang proposed a high-level meeting with Washington to defuse military tensions and discuss a peace treaty and the U.S. campaign for a nuclear-free world.

The overture by the National Defense Commission, the potent governing body headed by leader Kim Jong-un, came less than a week after much-hyped inter-Korean talks fell apart due to disagreement over who would lead the delegations.

President Park Geun-hye on Monday expressed her misgivings about the North’s intention during her telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama.

“Having talks for the sake of talks only earns North Korea time to make its nuclear weapons more sophisticated,” Park was quoted by her spokesperson Kim Haing as telling Obama during the 20-minute call.

Obama briefed Park on the outcome of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Obama told Park that Xi expressed China’s commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and promised not to recognize Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons state, according to the spokesperson.

Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said he sees “little possibility” for talks between the North and the U.S.

While reaffirming no change in the delegates, he reiterated calls for dialogue with the communist neighbor to normalize the Gaeseong industrial complex.

“You don’t have to worry about (any talks excluding South Korea),” Ryoo said at a parliamentary session, adding that the allies continue to consult closely.

“We’re still urging a working-level meeting to ship out raw and subsidiary materials from Gaeseong.”

Washington also responded by expressing its openness to dialogue but said that Pyongyang must fulfill its international obligations such as U.N. Security Council resolutions banning its atomic activity.

“As we have made clear, our desire is to have credible negotiations with the North Koreans, but those talks must involve North Korea living up to its obligations to the world, including compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions, and ultimately result in denuclearization,” National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said in a statement.

“We will judge North Korea by its actions and not its words and look forward to seeing steps that show North Korea is ready to abide by its commitments and obligations.”

Denis McDonough, U.S. President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, echoed the view, urging action before sugarcoated promises. 

“The bottom line is they‘re not going to be able to talk their way out of the very significant sanctions they’re under now -- sanctions that Russia supported and, very importantly, that China supported,” he told CBS on Sunday.

North Korea’s faster-than-expected peace offensive followed a flare-up in military tension involving threats of nuclear strikes and shows of force against South Korea and the U.S.

The regime codified its atomic-armed status last year and declared nuclear and economic development as the top two national priorities early this year, saying its nuclear programs are no longer up for negotiation.

In Sunday’s NDC statement, however, it called a denuclearization of the peninsula a “precept” of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, the two late autocrats and the incumbent ruler’s grandfather and father.

The intention behind the apparent shift of tack remains unclear but should reflect Beijing’s increasing pressure, Pyongyang’s own need for economic assistance and its strategic calculations given the forthcoming South Korea-China summit, officials and analysts say.

Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea‘s vice foreign minister and chief nuclear envoy, will hold a “strategic dialogue” with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui on Wednesday in Beijing, according to China‘s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying Monday.

Late last month, Kim Jong-un sent Choe Ryong-hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the (North) Korean People’s Army, to China where he expressed the regime’s willingness to engage in dialogue. 

In their first meeting early this month, Obama and Xi reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of the North, which may well top the agenda for the summit between Park and Xi.

“Since May, the North has been highlighting its efforts to overcome economic difficulties through the leadership’s public events and by drumming up the people’s participation and adopting economic legislation at home,” the Unification Ministry said in its analysis released Monday.

“Outside, with Choe’s trip to Beijing being as a momentum, it has been seeking a turnaround in the situation from a tactical aspect.” (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)