[Editorial] N. Korea should respond to US’ appeal for resumption of dialogue

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun at the Blue House on June 30. (Blue House photo pool)

The US has made a series of appeals for North Korea to rejoin the denuclearization talks. US State Department Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, the senior American envoy at the two countries’ working-level talks, asked North Korea to return to the negotiating table on Sept. 6, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a subsequent message calling for dialogue. These represent the American response to intimidating statements recently released by the North.

One notable passage in Pompeo’s remarks was his statement that every country has the right to self-defense. The reference to the right to self-defense that North Korea has long advocated can be taken as another expression of the US’ willingness to provide a security guarantee for the North Korean regime if it moves ahead with denuclearization. Also notable is Biegun’s remark that Trump will be focusing on achieving major progress over the next year. That remark is significant since it goes a step beyond Trump’s insistence that he won’t rush the negotiations and places the focus on the next year.

But it remains doubtful whether these remarks by high-level American diplomats will have the power to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. There had been expectations that the working-level negotiations would begin at the close of the South Korea-US joint military exercises last month, but North Korea has if anything been growing more pugnacious. In a recent statement, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said that the North’s “expectations of dialogue with the US are gradually disappearing” and warned the US not to test its patience. These remarks essentially represented a call for the US to come up with “new calculations.”

North Korea seems fixated on the breakdown of negotiations with the US in Hanoi this past February, following the two countries’ first summit in Panmunjom on June 30, 2018. Even so, simply waiting for the US to make an attitude change isn’t a good negotiating stance either. Pyongyang needs to be aware that, if it resorts to the brinkmanship tactic of holding out until the US changes its calculations, it could pass the point of no return. Considering that the US is asking for a resumption of working-level negotiations, North Korea should start by returning to dialogue. If the North keeps trying to stare down the US, it could miss a golden opportunity, leaving both sides the poorer for it.

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