U.S. says North Korea coverage unchanged after nuclear comment raises eyebrows By Reuters

By David Brunnstrom and Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – America mentioned on Friday its coverage in direction of North Korea had not modified after a senior U.S. official liable for nuclear coverage raised some eyebrows by saying Washington can be prepared to interact in arms-control talks with Pyongyang.

Some specialists argue that recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, one thing Pyongyang seeks, is a prerequisite for such talks. However Washington has lengthy argued that the North Korean nuclear program is prohibited and topic to United Nations sanctions.

Bonnie Jenkins, State Division underneath secretary for arms management, was requested at a Washington nuclear convention on Thursday at which level North Korea needs to be handled as an arms-control drawback.

“If they might have a dialog with us … arms management can all the time be an choice in case you have two prepared nations prepared to sit down down on the desk and discuss,” she replied.

“And never simply arms management, however threat discount – all the pieces that leads as much as a standard arms-control treaty and all of the totally different facets of arms management that we are able to have with them. We’ve made it very clear to the DPRK … that we’re prepared to speak to them – we’ve got no pre-conditions,” she mentioned, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official identify.

Referring to North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, she added: “If he picked up the cellphone and mentioned, ‘I need to speak about arms management,’ we’re not going to say no. I believe, if something, we’d need to discover what which means.”

America and its allies are involved that North Korea could also be about to renew nuclear bomb testing for the primary time since 2017, one thing that might be extremely unwelcome to the Biden administration forward of mid-term elections early subsequent month. North Korea has rejected U.S. calls to return to talks.

Requested about Jenkins’ remark, State Division spokesperson Ned Value mentioned: “I need to be very clear about this. There was no change to U.S. coverage.”

Value mentioned U.S. coverage remained “the whole denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” whereas including, “we proceed to be open to diplomacy with the DPRK, we proceed to succeed in out to the DPRK, we’re dedicated to pursuing a diplomatic strategy. We’re ready to fulfill with out preconditions and we name on the DPRK to interact in severe and sustained diplomacy.”

‘KIM JONG UN’S TRAP’

Talking on Friday on the identical nuclear coverage convention Jenkins addressed, Alexandra Bell, one other senior State Division arms-control official, additionally harassed there was no change in U.S. coverage.

Requested if it was time to just accept North Korea as a nuclear state, she replied: “Wording apart, we’re dedicated to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We don’t settle for North Korea with that standing. However we’re keen on having a dialog with the North Koreans.”

Daniel Russel, the highest U.S. diplomat for East Asia underneath then-President Barack Obama and now with the Asia Society, instructed Reuters Jenkins had “fallen straight into Kim Jong Un’s entice” along with her remarks.

“Suggesting that North Korea solely has to conform to have a dialog with the U.S. about arms management and threat discount is a horrible mistake, as a result of it strikes the problem from North Korea’s proper to own nuclear weapons to the query of what number of it ought to have and the way they’re used,” he mentioned.

“Kim would love nothing higher than to push his threat discount agenda — the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea.”

Different specialists performed down Jenkins’ remarks.

Daryl Kimball, government director of the U.S.-based Arms Management Affiliation, mentioned she was not making a press release recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state underneath the worldwide Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“She was acknowledging, as different officers in different administrations have, that North Korea does have nuclear weapons, however in violation of its commitments underneath the NPT to not pursue nuclear weapons,” he instructed Reuters.

Kimball and Toby Dalton, a nuclear professional on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, which hosted the nuclear convention, mentioned they didn’t see formal recognition as a nuclear-armed state as a prerequisite for arms-control talks. Dalton mentioned Jenkins appeared primarily to be restating the U.S. place that it was prepared to speak to Pyongyang with out preconditions.