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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Paekhwawon State Guest House in Pyongyang on May 31. (KCNA)
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Statement comes just ahead of Kim Yong-chol’s meetings with Trump and Pompeo
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reaffirmed that Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula is “unchanging, consistent, and firm.” His remarks came during a meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – but the real target for the message appears to be US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, across the Pacific. Pyongyang and Moscow also agreed in principle to holding a summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin within this year. In their meeting on May 31 at the Paekhwawon State Guest House in Pyongyang, Kim and Lavrov shared the positions and plans of the North Korean and Russian leadership on recent political trends and prospects for the Korean Peninsula and region that are drawing international attention, while discussing matters where the two sides plan to cooperate closely to further expand and develop their relationship of political and economic cooperation, the Rodong Sinmun and Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) both reported on June 1. After emphasizing North Korea’s “firm commitment to denuclearization” to Lavrov, Kim voiced his hopes for a step-wise approach of finding a solution on the issues of North Korea-US relations and denuclearization of the peninsula that “suits each party’s interests through new approaches for a new era under a new situation.” Kim also said he “hoped that the solution of the issues will progress through effective and constructive dialogue and negotiation,” the Rodong Sinmun and other sources said. Kim’s remarks came just ahead of Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) vice chairman and United Front Department director Kim Yong-chol’s meetings with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump while visiting the US as a special envoy. They read as a bid for success in the two sides’ last-minute negotiations, sending the message to the US that it should not question the North Korean leader’s commitment to denuclearization. Kim Jong-un’s first explicit commitment to denuclearization in North Korean official media The remarks mark the first time Kim Jong-un has expressed his commitment to and methodology for denuclearization so explicitly in the North Korean official media. The change has been noteworthy. Previously, the Rodong Sinmun and other North Korean news outlets either merely reprinted content about “complete denuclearization and a nuclear-free peninsula” from the Apr. 27 Panmunjeom Declaration without comment, or made references to the “achievement of the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearization,” as in a May 27 Rodong Sinmun report on the second inter-Korean summit on May 26. Kim’s remarks about denuclearization during his two summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (in Beijing in March and Dalian in May) were not published in the North Korean press. Another notable development was Kim’s outlining of a new methodology for North Korea-US relations and denuclearization. After Kim’s May 7 summit with Xi in Dalian, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported him as saying, “As long as relevant parties abolish their hostile policies and remove security threats against the DPRK, there is no need for the DPRK to be a nuclear state and denuclearization can be realized.” Kim was subsequently quoted as expressing his hope that the relevant parties “responsibly adopt step-by-step, simultaneous measures based on the mutual trust created by North Korea-US dialogue, pursuing a full-scale process of political resolution of peninsula issues and ultimately achieving denuclearization of the peninsula and lasting peace.” A comparison of Kim’s remarks on May 31 with those made at the time of the May 7 summit in Dalian notably shows the new inclusion of references to “new approaches” and “suiting each party’s interests,” and the omission of references to “simultaneous measures.” In the area of North Korea-Russia relations, Lavrov delivered a letter from Putin to Kim, saying the two sides had reached an agreement to having a meeting between their top leaders, the Rodong Sinmun reported. If that occurs, the only head of state among the six parties in Northeast Asia who has not met or scheduled a meeting with Kim will be Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – a reflection of Japan’s increasingly difficult diplomatic situation amid the rapid shifts under way in Northeast Asia. By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer, and Noh Ji-won, staff reporter Please direct comments or question to [english@hani.co.kr]
