Top nuclear representatives from the United States and South Korea scheduled to talk next week

Friday, August 20, 2021

Chief nuclear envoys from South Korea and the United States are scheduled to hold talks next week, according to a press release made by Seoul’s foreign ministry yesterday. The talks will discuss efforts to continue dialogue with North Korea. Sung Kim of the U.S. will arrive in the South Korean capital tomorrow, and will meet with his counterpart Noh Kyu-duk on the next day, it added.

This will be Kim’s second visit to South Korea since taking office as the U.S. special representative for North Korea. His last visit was in June.

The two representatives will talk about “ways for cooperation between the two countries for substantive progress in the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishment of lasting peace,” the ministry said.

The talks come in the middle of rising tensions between the two Koreas, after the South conducted joint military drills with the U.S. on August 10. The drills were described as “defensive” by US authorities. The North Korean government wasn’t convinced however, and senior officials Kim Yong Chol and Kim Yo Jong both issued threatening press statements on the same day.

The military drills, which are held by the US Army and the ROK Army are a measure undertaken by both governments to prepare in case of a possible confrontation between both Koreas. In the past, the North’s regime has showed its displeasment with said drills, issuing press statements and in some cases demonstrating missile strength.

General Kim Yong Chol, Department Director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said in his statement that confrontation was inevitable, specifying that “as south Korea and the United States have invariably chosen confrontation with our state, it is clear that we [North Korea] cannot make another choice, either.”

Kim Yo Jong, sister of current leader Kim Jong Un and Vice-Department Director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, said that no peace could be achieved on the Korean peninsula as long as US military troops and hardware was present on South Korean territory, calling for said military presence to be withdrawn, saying that “As long as the U.S. forces stay in south Korea, the root cause for the periodic aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula will never vanish.” Further in the statement, Kim said that “only substantial deterrent, not words, can ensure the peace and security of the Korean peninsula.”

Earlier this week, ships near North Korea’s eastern coast reportedly had received warnings, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. These warnings by North Korea were allegedly issued on Sunday and Monday, and could be an indication that the secluded state is preparing for weapon tests, it added, citing anonymous military sources.

There has been no indication of missiles launching or any other weapon tests so far, and Seoul’s defense ministry declined to comment on “matters of military intelligence”. This has led to other South Korean newspapers to make different speculations on the motives of the North Koreans. Kukmin Ilbo thinks that the warnings were part of a strategy of “psychological warfare” against the DPRK’s enemies, and that they may be meant for raising military tension and promoting unity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other experts according to the South China Morning Post suggested that the North’s military may have discovered a “technical glitch” at that last second before launch. Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum in Seoul, noted that the North has sent maritime warnings before without following through on actual testing.

Whether North Korea will make a show of force or not, North Korea is still dealing with major internal issues, as grave flooding has struck multiple regions of the country, flooding over one thousand homes and displacing around five thousand people.

The last missile launch North Korea conducted was in March, when two suspected ballistic missiles fell into the sea near Japan. This March launch took place as a combined reaction to the joint military drills and the downplaying of the situation by US president Joe Biden.

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