TOKYO: North Korea warned Washington through its state media Tuesday that a declaration ending the Korean War shouldn’t be seen as a bargaining chip in denuclearization talks — but suggested lifting sanctions might be.
The North’s official news agency issued a commentary claiming Pyongyang has taken significant measures to end hostile relations between the two countries but said the US is “trying to subdue” it through sanctions, a not-so-subtle call for Washington to lift sanctions if it wants further progress in their stalled nuclear negotiations.
The commentary said a declaration replacing a 65-year-old armistice to formally end the war “is not just a gift from a man to another,” and added, “it can never be a bargaining chip for getting the DPRK denuclearized.”
The DPRK is short for the North’s official name — the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The commentary was directed at supporters of the US policy to maintain maximum pressure and sanctions on North Korea until it has made clear and significant moves to denuclearize.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — a vocal advocate of that policy — is expected to travel to Pyongyang soon to try to revive the negotiation process and set the stage for a second summit between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un.
The commentary echoes a speech by North Korea’s foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, at the United Nations last week in which he claimed North Korea is ready to implement the agreements Trump and Kim made during their first summit, in Singapore in June, but also accused Washington of failing to demonstrate its willingness to ease tensions and build mutual trust.
“Without any trust in the US, there will be no confidence in our national security,” he said, “and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first.”
The North’s emphasis on lifting sanctions and building trust above all else puts a spotlight on the rift between its position and Washington’s since the Singapore summit, when Trump and Kim issued a vague statement about a nuclear-free peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.
Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have since been rocky, with neither side able to agree on a starting point and widespread skepticism in the United States over whether Pyongyang is serious about renouncing an arsenal it sees as the only way to guarantee its safety.
Hopes for progress in the talks got a boost last month, when South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim in Pyongyang for their third summit.
The summit resulted in a joint statement in which the North expressed willingness for a “permanent” dismantling of its main nuclear facility in Nyongbyon — if the United States takes corresponding measures — and the dismantling of a missile engine test site and launch pad in northwestern North Korea.
What the North would see as corresponding measures wasn’t specified. But Tuesday’s commentary and the UN statement suggest sanctions are a primary concern.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended in what was intended to be a temporary cease-fire. Moon and Kim are pushing for the end-of-war declaration by December. The declaration would be less difficult to make than a formal peace treaty, and Moon says he and Kim have agreed such a “political declaration” wouldn’t require the pullout of 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
North Korea says peace declaration not a bargaining chip
North Korea says peace declaration not a bargaining chip
- The 1950-53 Korean War ended in what was intended to be a temporary cease-fire
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
