On March 15, North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui announced that it might cease negotiations with the U.S. due to the failure of a summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump just weeks ago because Kim demanded a large alleviation of sanctions.
“I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” Choe said, according to The Associated Press. “We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation.”
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton spoke to South Korean officials about the reactions of each country after Choe partially blamed him and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the breakdown.
However, Pompeo believes that North Korea will continue in its commitment to negotiations.
“Following that, we continued to have very professional conversations, where we tried our best to work together and represent our respective sides. I have every expectation that we’ll be able to continue to do that,” Pompeo said.
Recently, satellite images of a formerly decommissioned North Korean rocket launch site show that it has resumed normal operations, according to U.S. analysts 38 North and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Both analysts say that the launch pad and rocket engine test stand were rapidly rebuilt following the summit along with other crucial components of the launch site.
“The rebuilding activities at Sohae demonstrate how quickly North Korea can easily render reversible any steps taken toward scrapping its WMD program with little hesitation,” the CSIS said in a study conducted by Joseph Bermudez and Victor Cha. “This poses challenges for the U.S. goal of final, irreversible and verifiable denuclearization.”
Western experts primarily attribute this reestablishment to North Korea’s discontent with the failure of the summit. According to them, North Korea is trying to pressure South Korea and the U.S. to make a new deal in place of agreements that could have been made during the summit.
North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun state-run media criticized Japan for supporting these sanctions rather than blaming the U.S. for their inception, but both the U.S. and North Korea point at each other for the summit’s failure.
In addition to the Sohae launching center’s (located in Tongchang-ri, North Korea) reconstruction, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service reported that activity near a missile research center outside Pyongyang had increased.
In response, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said that it was monitoring these and other facilities as well as coordinating intelligence with the U.S.
Analyst Moon Seong Mook, who works with the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, has concluded that North Korea will most likely not launch missiles or satellites in the near future due to the chance that negotiations with the U.S. could crumble and that the U.S. might establish even harsher sanctions.
Moon also believes that these reconstructions could be testing South Korea’s goal of peace, as it has been attempting to help ease international sanctions against North Korea in multiple ways.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Yeon-chul, the head of the Korea Institute for National Unification, have both expressed discontent with the sanctions and their impact on potential inter-Korean economic projects. Some of these projects would include joint factories and allowing South Koreans to tour North Korea’s Diamond Mountain resort which could help ease tensions between the two countries.
An official from the U.S. State Department told reporters that the U.S. will not provide sanction exemptions for inter-Korean projects, despite the potential benefits that they could provide.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Matthew Rabinowitz of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School