North Korea sets out tough pre-conditions for talks
Engagement in debate over talks seen as welcome shift after recent threats of nuclear war
North Korea laid down rigid pre-conditions yesterday for dialogue with Seoul or Washington, including the scrapping of UN sanctions and a guaranteed end to South Korea-US joint military drills.
The list of demands from the North's top military body was swiftly rejected as "incomprehensible" by South Korea which, together with the US, has made any talks conditional on the North taking steps towards denuclearisation.
Dialogue has become the new focus of a blistering rhetorical battle that has sent military tensions soaring on the Korean Peninsula ever since the North carried out its third nuclear test in February. Some analysts see the North's engagement in a debate over dialogue - no matter how unrealistic the conditions - as a welcome shift from the apocalyptic threats of nuclear war that have poured out of Pyongyang in recent weeks.
I don't think Pyongyang really expects these conditions to be met. It's an initial show of strength in a game of tug-of-war that at least shows a desire to have a dialogue down the line
"I don't think Pyongyang really expects these conditions to be met," said Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
"It's an initial show of strength in a game of tug-of-war that at least shows a desire to have a dialogue down the line," Yang said.
The first step demanded by the North's National Military Commission was the withdrawal of "cooked up" UN sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear test in February.
North Korea has repeatedly cited the sanctions as a prime trigger for the current crisis.