US, North Korea balk at using back channels to discuss a halt to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme
Unused channels include Pyongyang’s UN representative, US civilians and North Korean diplomats meeting in a third country and Sweden’s Pyongyang embassy
The US and North Korea have three direct back-channels to talk about American prisoners and broad bilateral relations, but have not used them for formal negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, analysts say.
The channels include Pyongyang’s representative at the United Nations in New York, informal dialogue between US civilian experts and North Korean diplomats in a third country, and the Swedish embassy’s representing the US’s interests in Pyongyang.
Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said in an email to the South China Morning Post that the three channels have not been used for formal US-North Korea bilateral talks because “the North is not quite far enough in its weaponisation to believe it has enough leverage to force concessions from the US”.
“The US believes its new sanctions need to bite before the North will yield,” Paal said. “But the moment is coming faster than most estimate will be needed for the sides to realise they need to talk seriously.”
There are no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
After two self-claimed successful intercontinental ballistic missile tests and the sixth nuclear test in July and September, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told world leaders at the UN summit on September 23 in New York that his nation is “finally only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state nuclear force”.