North Korea’s Kim Jong-un sends warning to US, extends olive branch to the South

The US said it has ‘no hostile intent’ towards North Korea and remains open to the idea of talks after Kim called the offer a ‘petty trick’
The North Korean leader, however, also said he was willing to restore communications hotlines with Seoul

Kim Jong-un

Agence France-Presse

Published: 7:58am, 30 Sep 2021

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un condemned a US offer of dialogue as a “petty trick for deceiving the international community”, state media reported on Thursday, and accused the Joe Biden administration of continuing a hostile policy against his nuclear-armed country.

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been effectively at a standstill since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Kim and then-president Donald Trump over sanctions relief and what North Korea would be willing to give up in return.

Under Biden, the United States has repeatedly offered to meet North Korean representatives anywhere, at any time, without preconditions, while saying it will pursue denuclearisation.

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The new administration was pursuing “military threats” and a “hostile policy” unchanged from the past, “but employs more cunning ways and methods in doing so”, he said in a lengthy address to the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament.

North Korea has been largely biding its time in recent months as it assessed the Biden government and focused on domestic issues.

It has been behind a rigid self-imposed blockade since early last year to protect itself from the coronavirus pandemic, with the economy suffering as a result and trade with key partner China dwindling to a trickle.

02:10

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un offers to reconnect vital communication line with South Korea

But Kim’s speech was the latest in a series of actions with international ramifications this month.

This week, North Korea claimed it tested a hypersonic gliding missile – though experts said such a weapon was likely in an early stage of development – and earlier this month announced it had successfully fired a long-range cruise missile, after holding a scaled-down military parade.

Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes are banned under UN Security Council resolutions, and it is subject to multiple international sanctions as a result.

The US condemned this week’s launch, but in response to Kim’s comments said it has “no hostile intent” towards Pyongyang and remains open to the idea of negotiations.

01:17

North Korea tells UN it has the ‘right’ to test weapons

“The United States harbours no hostile intent toward the DPRK,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement, referring to North Korea by the abbreviation of its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Our policy calls for a calibrated, practical approach that seeks serious and sustained diplomacy with the DPRK to make tangible progress that increases the security of the United States, our allies, and our deployed forces.”

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Sung Kim, the US Special Representative for North Korea held talks with his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk in Jakarta on Thursday, where they also held online talks with their Japanese counterpart Takehiro Funakoshi.

Kim said Noh had briefed him on South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent proposal for a declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean war, with Seoul believing it would be an effective confidence-building measure with the North, so as to pave the way for a resumption of denuclearisation talks.

Kim did not indicate what Washington’s position was on the issue, only saying that both sides had “agreed to continue our close communication on the initiative”, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported.

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A UN Security Council meeting on North Korea requested by the United States, Britain and France on Thursday was postponed to Friday. The delay was requested by Russia and China, who said they want more time to study the situation, one diplomat said.

North Korea has not shown any willingness to give up its arsenal, which it says it needs to defend itself against a US invasion.

Kim’s speech indicated Pyongyang would keep improving its capabilities unless Washington changed course, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

“It has come to a judgment that it has no choice but to get ready for a long-haul approach with the US, meaning it will continue developing strategic weapons while keeping a stable peace mode with the South.”

Washington and Seoul are security allies, and the US stations around 28,500 troops in the South to protect it from its neighbour. Last month, the two held joint military drills that always infuriate Pyongyang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Photo: Yonhap via AP

The North has repeatedly excoriated the South and its President Moon Jae-in since the collapse of the Hanoi summit, and blown up a liaison office on its side of the border that Seoul had built.

At the UN General Assembly this month, Moon reiterated his call for a formal declaration of the end of the Korean war, where hostilities ceased in 1953 with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.

But Kim said the South was “in servitude to the US”, and that an end-of-war declaration could only come with “mutual respect” and an end to the “unfair and double-dealing attitude and hostile viewpoint”.

Nonetheless, he expressed a willingness to restore North-South communication lines in early October.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry responsible for inter-Korean affairs welcomed Kim’s offer on the hotlines, but did not comment on his other remarks.

Meanwhile, Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister was appointed to the country’s top government body, KCNA reported on Thursday.

She was promoted to a position on the State Affairs Commission, amid a raft of changes approved by the Supreme People’s Assembly.

No fewer than nine members of the commission were dismissed, including one of its vice-presidents, Pak Pong-ju, and diplomat Choe Son-hui, a rare senior woman in the North’s hierarchy who has played a key role in negotiations with the US.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Washington’s offer of dialogue a petty trick, Kim says