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North 38, a US think tank specializing in North Korean affairs, released satellite images that suggest North Korea is continuing the process of dismantling its nuclear test site at Punggye Village, including the installation of an observatory for overseeing the dismantling process. The left image was taken on May 7 and shows the site after the withdrawal of mobile facilities near the site’s northern, southern, and western tunnels. The right image was taken on May 15 and shows a stack of lumber, assumedly for the construction of the observatory. (DigitalGlobe 38 North/Yonhap News)
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Issue may become stumbling block implementation of Panmunjeom Declaration, including reunions of divided family scheduled for Aug. 15
After previously postponing high-level inter-Korean meeting over joint South Korea-US military exercises and a talk by former North Korean minister to the UK Thae Yong-ho, North Korea is now demanding the repatriation of employees who defected en masse while working at a restaurant in China. In a previous statement by Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) chairman Ri Son-gwon, Pyongyang warned that it would be “difficult to sit down together with the South Korean authorities.” The moves appear to be part of an all-out onslaught against the Moon Jae-in administration ahead of upcoming South Korea-US and North Korea-US summits. In a May 19 Q&A with the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) a North Korean Red Cross central committee spokesperson called for the return of the employees, who defected as a group from the Ryugyong Restaurant in China in Apr. 2016. “We must remind the South Korean authorities that the handling of the conservative puppets’ collective luring and abduction [of the employees], which was a fraudulent scheme of anti-republic hostility and an atrocious criminal violation of human rights, will have a major impact in determining the prospects for resolving humanitarian issues between North and South as reflected in the Panmunjeom Declaration,” the spokesperson warned. North Korean Red Cross calls for repatriation of group defectors While North Korea has called for the employees’ repatriation ever since their defection, it had not previously raised the issue since inter-Korean relations began improving in the wake of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Pyongyang’s remarks linking the repatriation issue to the Panmunjeom Declaration are particularly notable – hinting that the matter may become a stumbling block to reunions of divided family members planned for the National Liberation Day holiday on Aug. 15. The declaration, which was released following Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s summit on Apr. 27, includes an agreement to “endeavor to swiftly resolve the humanitarian issues that resulted from the division of the nation, and to convene the Inter-Korean Red Cross Meeting to discuss and solve various issues including the reunion of separated families.” If North Korea does insist on the restaurant workers’ return as a precondition for the reunions, the situation stands to have an impact on inter-Korean relations as a whole. The Moon administration, for its part, is unlikely to agree to the repatriation. Returning the employees to North Korea after they have already become South Korean citizens would have explosive political ramifications. During a May 17 session of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Minister of Unification Cho Myung-gyon said the employees “came to and have settled in South Korea of their own free will, and we have no intention whatsoever of sending them back.” Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-hwan predicted, “If the South and North Korean sides stick to their principles on this, the result would impact the divided family reunions as a matter of course.” “They are going to need to find a way around that to open the path for executing the Panmunjeom Declaration’s terms,” he added. North Korea has recently been waging a full-scale offensive with Seoul. On May 20, its propaganda site Uriminzokkiri denounced the distribution of leaflets to the North by defector groups. Pyongyang has also declined to accept a list of South Korean reporters to cover the closing of the Punggye Village nuclear test site scheduled to take place in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province on May 23–25. Its moves read as expressing disgruntlement with Seoul’s attitude amid Pyongyang’s clash with Washington over denuclearization methods. “The North seems to be bringing up issues that it had previously taken off the negotiating table,” a Blue House senior official said. Moon and Trump have phone call prior to their meeting The hiccups in inter-Korean relations are complicating matters for President Moon ahead of his North Korea-US summit on May 22. On May 20, he talked for 20 minutes by phone with US President Donald Trump. “The two leaders traded views on the various reactions North Korea has been recently showing,” Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan reported. The two leaders appear to have discussed matters including the possible factors behind Pyongyang’s abrupt decision to postpone high-level inter-Korean talks over joint South Korea-US military exercises. North Korea’s aggressive stance toward the South has cast a pall on President Moon’s attempts to leverage the momentum from improving inter-Korean relations to resolve the nuclear issue. “Inter-Korean relations are in far more of a mess than North Korea-US relations,” said one expert speaking on condition of anonymity. “This isn’t a situation that can be resolved at the working level, which means we need to get the hotline operating between the leaders or increase our behind-the-scenes discussions,” the expert added. Handong Global University professor Kim Joon-hyung lamented that Seoul “has not played the ‘shield’ role it should be playing between North Korea and the US.” “[North Korea] seems to be checking for changes from the South while it observes the changing attitude from the US,” Kim suggested. Another expert who requested anonymity said, “It seems like there’s growing discontent from North Korea over the fact that it’s staking everything on its negotiations with the US, yet the South has not taken any corresponding actions.” By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer, and Noh Ji-won and Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
