US ready to engage with North Korea: Blinken

The US has put the diplomatic ball in Pyongyang’s court, with its Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressing that Washington is prepared to engage with North Korea to discuss denuclearization, but it remains uncertain whether the reclusive regime will respond.

“We are waiting to see if Pyongyang actually wants to engage. The ball is in their court,” Blinken said in an interview with ABC on Sunday, adding that Washington is prepared to pursue diplomacy with the North even as the sanctions remain in place.

Blinken’s remarks come after US President Joe Biden’s summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington on Friday. At the meeting Biden demonstrated a clear willingness to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang toward the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and said he would meet the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, under the right conditions.

The top diplomat echoed Biden’s stance that the best chance of achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was to “engage diplomatically with North Korea on a deliberate, calibrated approach where we seek to make progress toward that goal.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be a grand bargain where this gets resolved in one fell swoop. It’s got to be clearly calibrated diplomacy, clear steps from the North Koreans, and it moves forward in that way,” he added.

During Friday’s summit, Biden and Moon reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy and dialogue with the recalcitrant regime, building on past agreements with the North, including the Panmunjom Declaration and the Singapore joint statement. The allies’ efforts for peace on the peninsula and to push Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons have been stalled since the collapse of the 2019 Hanoi talks between Kim and former President Donald Trump.

Signaling Washington’s readiness to resume talks with Pyongyang, Biden also appointed Sung Kim, a veteran Korean American diplomat who led the US delegation at the six-party talks with the North, as a special envoy for North Korea.

Moon said on social media that Biden’s choice of Kim, who is well versed in the Korean Peninsula situation and negotiations with the North, and who can talk with North Koreans without an interpreter, represents Washington’s message to Pyongyang that it is ready for talks.

Unification Minister Lee In-young on Monday said the summit in Washington created “sufficient” conditions needed to resume the talks with North Korea, during a local radio interview.

Lee stressed that the conditions needed for the Koreas and the US to work actively to improve ties had been established, considering the possibility of future North Korea and US talks based on the Singapore agreement, and the US’ designation of the special envoy for the North.

Meanwhile, North Korea has kept mum on last week’s summit, raising speculation about whether and how the regime will respond to Washington’s call for talks.

As of Monday, North Korean state media outlets had not reported on the latest summit.

Observers agree that the Moon-Biden summit served as an occasion for South Korea and the US to align closely in tackling North Korea’s nuclear problem, but said the lack of concrete measures could thwart the goal of actually bringing the North back to the dialogue table.

“The Biden administration’s acceptance of the Singapore accord between Trump and Kim Jong-un could be seen as positive,” said Cheong Seong-chang, director of Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute. “But the two leaders weren’t able to come up with detailed plans to revive the denuclearization talks with the North. Therefore, it will be difficult for the North to return to the negotiation table based on the summit.”

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)