 |
|
North Korean Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland Ri Song-gwon. (Hankyoreh archive)
|
Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland cites Max Thunder drills and Thae Yong-ho’s remarks as reason for suspension
Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) and North Korea’s senior representative to high-level inter-Korean talks, said on May 17 that it would “not be easy to sit down with the current South Korean administration again” without a “resolution to the serious situation responsible for halting the high-level inter-Korean talks,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Speaking about North Korea’s unilateral notification “suspending” the talks that day in the KCNA piece, which took the form of an interview with a reporter from the agency, Ri said the “future course of inter-Korean relations depends entirely on the actions of the South Korean authorities.” Ri’s remarks were read as an attempt to pressure Seoul into taking action in connection with the Max Thunder joint air force exercises by South Korea and the US and “anti-Kim Jong-un” remarks made by former North Korean minister to the United Kingdom Thae Yong-ho. Indeed, Ri was quoted as asking, “In what item or passage of the historic Panmunjeom Declaration did [South and North Korea] agree to increase exercises for a war of aggression against the other party to their largest scale, or have pieces of human scum ratchet up the intensity of their slander?” At 12:30 am on May 16, Ri sent a message to Minister of Unification Cho Myung-gyon, South Korea’s senior representative to the high-level talks, announcing the “postponement” of talks scheduled for later that day, citing the Max Thunder drills as a reason. A KCNA piece also raised issues with the air force drills and Thae’s remarks. “The fraught political situation with South Korea’s imprudent war of Northern invasion ruckus and rampage of antagonism has left no choice but to take action by suspending the high-level inter-Korean talks foreseen for May 16,” the piece said. A subsequent statement credited to first vice minister of foreign affairs Kim Kye-gwan expressed displeasure with the US’s behavior. “If the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we [. . .] cannot but reconsider our proceeding to the DPRK-US summit,” the statement said. Some analysts are suggesting Ri’s interview remarks to the KCNA may have chiefly been meant to indirectly pressure Trump by having South Korean President Moon Jae-in work more actively to persuade him and mediate ahead of a scheduled May 22 South Korea-US summit in Washington, DC, to prepare for the scheduled North Korea-US summit on June 12 in Singapore. Noting the increased pitch of Ri’s denunciation of Seoul in light of recent political developments, a possible analysis is that the remarks also hinted at a message of disgruntlement over the South’s “complacent” attitude and approach while North Korea assumes risks in attempting to achieve a breakthrough. By Lee Je-hun, editor in chief Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
