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David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. (Reuters/Yonhap News)
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David Stilwell supports reuniting Korean Americans with N. Korean relatives
On Sept. 18, a senior official in the US government reconfirmed the American position that sanctions on North Korea won’t be lifted until the North’s complete denuclearization. During a hearing at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said that American policymakers remained absolutely committed to North Korea’s “fully verified denuclearization.” Stillwell was responding to a question by Republican Senator Cory Gardner, who had asked whether there would be any sanctions relief before North Korea showed commitment to “complete and verifiable denuclearization.” When Gardner asked if “fully verified denuclearization” and “complete and verifiable denuclearization” are the same thing, Stilwell said that they are. The US government’s repeated emphasis of its current stance that sanctions cannot be lifted before denuclearization comes amid North Korean calls for a security guarantee and partial or full sanctions relief prior to the resumption of working-level talks between the two sides. When Stilwell was asked whether North Korea is still producing nuclear weapons, he said that the US presumes that it is. Stilwell said that the US has long been actively engaged in resolving the conflict between South Korea and Japan. When Democratic Senator Bob Menendez made remarks implying that the US should play an active role in resolving the South Korea-Japan conflict, Stilwell said that he fully shares those concerns and that he has spent a considerable amount of time over the past two and a half months working with the two sides to help them work through their concerns. Stilwell said that the US is actively engaged and that just because such activities aren’t made public doesn’t mean they aren’t happening. Proposal for reunion between Korean Americans and N. Korean relatives On the same day, Stilwell appeared before the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation, under the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. During that hearing, Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman observed that there are 100,000 American citizens with relatives in North Korea and proposed helping Korean Americans reunite with their families in North Korea. When Sherman asked if the government could bring up video or face-to-face reunions during the negotiations, Stilwell said that that is a really good idea but that the decision rested with Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea. By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
