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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are all smiles as they shake hands during their summit at Panmunjeom on Apr. 27. (Photo Pool)
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North Korea aims to “transparently ensure the suspension of nuclear testing”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s announcement of plans to shut down the “northern (Punggye Village) nuclear testing site” and invite South Korean and US experts and journalists to North Korea is being seen an intended to stress his commitment to implementing denuclearization according to greater standards of transparency through upcoming negotiations with the US. Announced during Kim’s Apr. 27 summit at Panmunjeom with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Kim’s plan can be seen as having the additional goal of providing the inter-Korean summit with a robust outcome to increase the odds of a scheduled summit with US President Donald Trump going ahead and producing a successful result. Key to this is his declaration of plans to increase transparency going ahead. To begin with, by allowing Moon to announce the message, Kim increased the South Korean President’s stature in the upcoming denuclearization and peace regime establishment process – an immediate implementation of Article 3-4 of the Panmunjeom Declaration stating the two sides’ plan to “actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Second, by emphasizing transparency in the denuclearization process, Kim acknowledged skepticism about his commitment to denuclearization among the international community – especially US experts and members of the press. In effect, he was sending observers the message, “Trust me.” A Blue House senior official praised Kim’s message on Apr. 29 as “stating his commitment to approaching things in a proactive, preemptive way during the North Korean nuclear verification process to be discussed going ahead.” Special presidential advisor on unification, foreign affairs and national security Moon Chung-in said it “implies that the ICBM and nuclear weapon abandonment process expected to take place through future discussions with the US will proceed in a transparent way.” Indeed, Kim decided on and announced plans to “shut down [North Korea’s] northern nuclear test site” during the third plenary session of the 7th Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee on Apr. 20. The newest details to be announced are the shutdown date in May and the invitation of South Korean and US experts and journalists to attend. First, the May shutdown down means the North Korea will be providing the international community with an actual example of denuclearization being put into practice ahead of the North Korea-US summit, which is reportedly to be held the same month. It also suggests a certain consideration for Trump by helping improve his position domestically amid opposition from White House advisors and a concerted attack by US strategists and media since his decision to meet with Kim for a summit. The invitation extended to South Korean and US experts and journalists, for its part, was a choice made by the North to “transparently ensure the suspension of nuclear testing,” as the plenary session decision put it. The message is that even if no formal inspections or verification takes place, the North is willing to shut its nuclear site down openly with US experts in attendance. Notably, the invitation was extended to experts not only from the US – which Kim has referred to a “party to the hostile relationship that drove us to possess nuclear capabilities” – but also from South Korea. This could be taken as a signal that Article 3-4 of the Panmunjeom Declaration announcing South and North Korea’s agreement to “carry out their respective roles and responsibilities” for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be not remain at the level of rhetoric. “It’s the declaration of a partnership between the South and North Korean leaders, where Chairman Kim fulfills his denuclearization ‘responsibility’ while President Moon enlists the international community’s cooperation and support on the regime security guarantees that the North wants and the process of establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, including normalization of North Korea-US relations,” said a source familiar with the summit discussions on this section of the declaration. Indeed, a Blue House senior official said the two sides would “hold discussions to decide” matters such as the timing of the nuclear test site shutdown and South Korean and US experts who are to observe it on site. Although South Korean government officials and journalists did visit the scene of the demolition of North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor cooling tower on June 27, 2008, they were doing so as representatives of parties to the Six-Party Talks – a rather different situation in terms of format and content. Kim calls for frequent meetings to build trust with the US Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is unlikely to become a reality simply through shows of “good will” and unilateral measures by Kim. For that reason, it’s important to consider Kim’s rhetorical question to Moon – “Why would we possess nuclear weapons while struggling to survive?” – and his proviso calling for “frequent meetings to build trust with the US and a promise of nonaggression and an end to the Korean War.” “It seems like there’s already some mutual trust among Moon, Kim, and Trump and a shared understanding that consideration needs to be shown to the other parties,” a former senior official said. “There is something Kim is definitely seeking to achieve through denuclearization, and the many complex and sensitive issues related to the procedures, methods, and timeline are going to require long discussions between the North and the US,” the official added. It will take more than a few words to explain how North Korea plans to put an end to both its “past nukes” (weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles) and “present nukes” (nuclear facilities), or how that process is to be closely tied to US guarantees on the regime’s security, normalization of relations, and the implementation of an aid program by the US and international community for the North’s economic reconstruction. By Lee Je-hoon, senior staff writer Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
