North Korea showed its willingness to have talks with the United States. This announcement comes after the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics closed with total diplomacy between North and South Korea
South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, succeeded in his goal of encouraging North Korea to consider initiating talks with the U.S government to solve their problems and threats. Nonetheless, nothing was said about North Korea considering denuclearization, which is a topic North Korea previously said was not up for discussion.
“The North agrees that inter-Korean relations and North Korea-U. S. relations should improve together,” the Presidential Blue House stated.
Conversations with no preconditions?
On Sunday night, local hour, North Korea’s chief representatives at the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies met with South Korea’s representatives in PyeongChang. In the hour-long meeting, North Korea expressed it was considering to open talks with the Trump administration. It is the first sign of willingness from North Korea’s regime to dialogue with Washington.
The Trump administration previously stated that it was open to talk with North Korea without preconditions.
However, one of the leading problems between the states is produced by North Korea’s nuclear program, which is seen by the occidental world as a threat. There won’t be essential outcomes from the dialogue – assuming it does start – if there are no concessions on the nuclear matter from North Korea. However, during the meeting, nothing was said about the intentions of this country to quit its nuclear program.
As a matter of fact, Kim Jong-un’s government has noted that becoming a nuclear state was one of their main aims – which the administration recently said it succeeded – and that stopping the nuclear program was entirely out of the question.
Ivanka as Trump’s representative in PyeongChang
Ivanka Trump, daughter, and adviser to the president, was at the closing ceremony representing his father’s government. She sat in the same VIP box as Kim Yong Chol, who is the lead delegate of North Korea, and actually is sanctioned by the United States.
General Vincent Brooks, who is the commander of U.S. Forces in South Korea, also sat just two seats away from the North Korean.
Ivanka Trump and Kim Yong Chol didn’t interact.
South Korean conservatives tried to prevent Kim from entering the country. The North Korean is accused of leading two deadly attacks in 2010 against the state. One took place when a torpedo attacked the Cheonan naval corvette, killing 46 sailors. The other one was the shelling of an island, where four different South Koreans died. However, the protest by the conservative was futile. North Korea’s representatives crossed the border on Sunday using a military road to attend the ceremony and to meet with South Korea’s government.
Ivanka was traveling alongside Allison Hooker, the Korea director on the National Security Council. she is also an important actor on the White House’s policy on North Korea. She was not actually on the list of the White House for the delegation.
North Korea invited president Moon to Pyongyang
At the beginning of the Olympics, Kim Jong Un sent his sister to the South to deliver an invitation to president Moon to Pyongyang. Moon said that the right conditions needed to be created for this to happen. The countries marched together into the Olympics, at the opening ceremonies – wearing the same uniform and under a unified Korean flag.
“With your joint march, you have shared your faith in a peaceful future for all of us,” said Thomas Bach, who is the president of the International Olympic Committee, when he was closing the games. “Sport brings people together in a very fragile world.”
At the closing ceremonies, North Korea and South Korea’s teams also walked together, wore their national costumes while they waved three flags, those of North Korea, South Korea, and the unified peninsula.
North Korea sent 22 athletes to the Olympic Games in its neighboring country. They didn’t win medals.
However, increasing the cooperation might be difficult, since the United States and South Korea are about to start scheduled joint military drills on April 1, which is something North Korea condemns every year. Probably, these collective actions are something North Korea would like to stop in case of negotiations with the United States. As well, it is possible that Kim Jong Un asks the United States to reduce sanctions against the country.
The U.S government has blacklisted 56 vessels, shipping companies and other entities to diminish North Korea from growing less sensitive to the U.S sanctions.
“[The] Trump group’s attempt itself to threaten us by such sanctions or wild remarks only reveals its ignorance about us,” a foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday, according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. “We came to possess nuclear weapons, the treasured sword of justice, in order to defend ourselves from such threats from the United States.”
Source: The Washington Post