WP Reports Citing Senior Official
North Korea Special Representative Left Vacant, Only Human Rights Representative to Be Appointed
"Obama Administration, No Different from Strategic Patience" Evaluation
[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The Joe Biden administration in the United States attempted to contact North Korea to convey the results of its review of North Korea policy, but it is reported that the North did not respond. It is also reported that the U.S. side will not appoint a special envoy to lead negotiations with North Korea, raising prospects that denuclearization talks with North Korea will be difficult to start without a special trigger.
President Moon Jae-in's plan to drive dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea through the upcoming South Korea-U.S. summit this month is also likely to face difficulties.
Josh Rogin, a Washington Post (WP) columnist, revealed this on the 5th (local time) in a column titled "Biden’s North Korea Strategy: Hurry Up but Wait," citing senior U.S. officials.
Two senior officials said, "We tried to contact North Korea to convey the results of the new North Korea policy review, but North Korea did not respond."
The White House has confirmed that the U.S. side has attempted to contact North Korea through various channels since mid-February but has received no response.
North Korea showed no willingness to engage in talks with the U.S. even after learning that the Biden administration’s policy review was completed, following its demands for sanctions relief and other actions.
The U.S. rather holds the position that North Korea must make a move. On the 3rd, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the new North Korea policy focuses on diplomacy and expressed hope that North Korea would seize this opportunity, stating that the U.S. would observe North Korea’s words and actions for days or months, effectively passing the ball to North Korea.
Rogin reported that a senior official said the position of the State Department’s special envoy for North Korea will remain vacant for the time being. The special envoy position was concurrently held by former Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun but has remained unfilled since the change of administration. The official also indicated that the U.S. would rather appoint a special envoy for North Korean human rights, a position that has been vacant since the Trump administration. Since North Korea is sensitive about human rights issues, this could make resuming North Korea-U.S. talks even more difficult.
Regarding this, Rogin assessed that the new U.S. North Korea policy "fundamentally waits for positive moves from Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea," and "this does not seem likely to happen soon and somewhat sounds like a return to the Obama-era policy of 'strategic patience.'"
The Biden administration has indicated that its North Korea policy will not be the Obama administration’s "strategic patience," but the analysis suggests that nothing has substantially changed.
Rogin conveyed the atmosphere that "although the Biden administration appears busy, there are concerns among some officials, experts, and diplomats that it is sliding into a familiar pattern of tactically supporting the status quo."
Rogin noted that the increase in North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats means worsening conditions for negotiations from the U.S. perspective, and that political costs in the form of concessions may be necessary to bring Chairman Kim back to the negotiating table.
He said, "It is clear that North Korea is not a diplomatic priority for the Biden administration," and "the Biden administration needs to try harder, and it would be better to do so sooner rather than later."
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