North Korea is willing to discuss relinquishing its nuclear weapons, and will freeze its nuclear and missile programmes if it begins direct talks with the US, in a dramatic easing of tensions after a visit by senior South Korean politicians.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will also meet his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in late April in the first summit of its kind in more than a decade, Moon’s office said. The two leaders will meet at Panmunjom on the highly militarised border.
North Korea pledged to not use conventional or nuclear weapons against its neighbour, despite frequent threats from Pyongyang. The two sides have remained in a technical state of war since the 1950-53 Korean war.
“The North side clearly affirmed its commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and said it would have no reason to possess nuclear weapons should the safety of its regime be guaranteed and military threats against North Korea removed,” a South Korean presidential spokesman said, according to the Yonhap news agency.
“The South and the North have agreed to set up a hotline between their leaders to allow close consultations and a reduction of military tension, while also agreeing to hold the first phone conversation before the third South-North summit.”
Responding to the development, Donald Trump tweeted: “Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the US is ready to go hard in either direction!”
The announcement came as a South Korean delegation returned from a two-day trip to Pyongyang where they met with Kim and other senior North Korean officials. The meeting between the two leaders would be the first since Kim came to powerafter the death of his father in 2011. A previous summit was held with his father in 2007.
“North Korea wants the impossible, a total guarantee of security, that no one will attack them with impunity,” said James Hoare, a former British diplomat who previously served as the UK representative in Pyongyang. “They want US military forces out of South Korea and likely Japan as well, and those alliances have been built over decades.”
Kim said he wants to “vigorously advance” relations with South Korea during the visit led by Chung Eui-yong, the head of the South’s national security office. Photographs of the meeting showed Kim with a wide smile as he met the delegation, where he said he wanted to “write a new history of national reunification”.
Kim rarely meets foreign visitors, making his appearance highly significant, and his decision to personally host a dinner for the South Koreans was even more striking. But observers warned there are still serious issue that would need to be resolved for any progress to be made.
“He … made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean peninsula and activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported, referring to Kim.
The visit follows a period of easing tensions between the South and North, which sent a high level delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last month.
“We’re still at a stage where the atmosphere is characterised by extreme mistrust,” said Scott Snyder, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Words alone won’t be enough to impress people in Washington. It’s going to be a long hard slog if the US does enter in to negotiations and that is still a long way off from concluding an agreement.”
The envoys were taken to the Workers’ party headquarters, the first time South Korean officials have visited the building, according to Seoul’s presidential office. Kim later hosted with his wife a dinner, set at a round pink and white table with matching chairs. His younger sister and close adviser, Kim Yo-jong, also attended the meal, which lasted more than four hours.
A photograph of him leader posing with five members of the South Korean delegation was splashed across the front page of the Rodong Shinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers’ party.
Before leaving for Pyongyang, Chung said he would stress the need to “denuclearise the Korean Peninsula” and that he would encourage direct dialogue between North Korea and the US.
Up to now Trump has resisted overtures by Pyongyang on the subject of talks. Washington has continued its “maximum pressure” campaign and on Monday announced a further round of largely symbolic sanctions over the North’s use of chemical weapons.
The US has said any talks must centre on North Korea abandoning its nuclear and missile programme, while Pyongyang views the weapons as necessary for its survival.
“Kim Jong-un’s overall goal is the survival of his regime,” said Mintaro Oba, a former US diplomat who focused on Korea policy. “Every indication so far is that he thinks having a nuclear weapons capability in some form – even if frozen – is key to that.”
