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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presides over a session of the plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang, Thursday, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap |
North Korean leader stresses 'both dialogue and confrontation' with US
By Kwon Mee-yoo
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emphasized stable control of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Friday, and said the isolated state should be ready for "both dialogue and confrontation," in an apparent conciliatory gesture toward South Korea and the United States.
It is rare for the bellicose North to mention dialogue, and considering the remarks were made a day before U.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim's visit to Seoul, attention is now on whether stalled denuclearization talks will get a makeover.
According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, during a ruling Workers' Party of Korea meeting Thursday, Kim said the country has "made a detailed analysis of the policy tendency of the newly emerged U.S. administration toward North Korea and clarified appropriate strategic and tactical counteraction and the direction of activities to be maintained in relations with the U.S. in the days ahead."
This is the first time that Kim has commented on the U.S.'s North Korea policy after President Joe Biden took office in January. The Biden administration finished reviewing its policy toward the North and said it would pursue a "calibrated, practical approach" on the way to the complete denuclearization of the peninsula.
During a five-day visit to Seoul, Sung Kim is scheduled to have bilateral and trilateral meetings with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, and Japan's North Korea point man, Takehiro Funakoshi.
The fact that Kim's message was not antagonistic toward the U.S. has prompted Pyongyang watchers to believe it signals North Korea's willingness to hold talks.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said that Kim sending a message to Washington was a sign of change as Pyongyang has not responded to U.S. calls for talks. He also said that Kim's emphasis on full preparation for confrontation may be designed to keep his people on a heightened state of alert.
"Though North Korea is hinting at the possibility of talks with the U.S., it is also preparing for confrontation, as the U.S. maintains its hostile policy against Pyongyang and the situation hasn't changed enough to resume conversations," Lim said.
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| Officials raise their hands in favor of a policy during a plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party in Pyongyang, Thursday, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap |
While Kim's speech showed conciliatory gestures compared to past remarks, some experts believe that North Korea's stance toward the U.S. appears unchanged.
Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, said Kim's remarks basically repeated the North's diplomatic position announced earlier.
"The North's stance toward the U.S. is similar to what it said in the Eighth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea in January. Kim said he would respond to U.S. policy with a principle of 'to power with power and goodwill with goodwill' and it remains the same in Thursday's remarks in a larger frame. North Korea won't come out to talk unless the U.S. withdraws its hostile policy," Park told The Korea Times.
"The U.S. has rolled out its North Korea policy review and it was mentioned in the South Korea-U.S. summit in May as well. It is time for North Korea to define its position in response. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the diplomatic ball was in North Korea's court and Kim has now passed the ball back to the U.S. by reconfirming the North's stance, which is an extension of what he said in January."
South Korea's unification ministry said it would keep an eye on the North's plenary meeting.
"The government emphasizes once again that dialogue and cooperation is the best way to stably control the situation and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula," Cha Deok-cheol, deputy spokesman at the ministry, said during a regular press briefing, Friday.
