NSC “I am ready to engage in diplomacy… Efforts with the international community to prevent North Korea’s WMD”
(Pyongyang KCNA = Yonhap News) The Central Committee of the North Korean Workers’ Party held the 8th and 6th Politburo meeting in the presence of General Secretary Kim Jong-un to discuss countermeasures against the United States, the Korean Central News Agency announced on the 20th. At the meeting, they listened to an analysis report on the current situation around the Korean Peninsula and a series of international issues, and discussed the direction of future countermeasures to the US. 2022.1.21
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(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Ryu Ji-bok = The United States responded to North Korea’s suggestion of resuming its nuclear test and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on the 20th (local time) by re-emphasizing its commitment to a diplomatic solution.
The White House National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson said, “I will not comment on the domestic situation” regarding North Korea’s position, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
“Our position is very clear,” an NSC spokesperson said. “Our goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains the same.”
“We are prepared to engage in serious and lasting diplomacy without preconditions to make substantive progress,” he said.
“Dedicated to diplomacy, we will continue to coordinate efforts with the international community to prevent the development of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missile programs,” he said.
At a meeting of the Politburo presided over by Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the 20th, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, “I have sent instructions to the relevant department to fully reconsider trust-building measures and to quickly review the issue of resuming all activities that have been temporarily suspended,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. did,” he reported.
This was considered to indicate that the moratorium on nuclear test and ICBM launch, which North Korea preemptively declared in April 2018, could be withdrawn after three years and nine months.
Coincidentally, when the Korean Central News Agency reported the news, it was at the time when US President Joe Biden was just starting the press conference for the first anniversary of his inauguration.
The NSC spokesperson’s comments are at the level of reaffirming the existing position on the issue of denuclearization, rather than directly responding to the North Korean threat or provoking North Korea.
The US has emphasized that it has no hostile intentions toward North Korea, expressed its will to resolve it through diplomacy and dialogue, and urged North Korea to come to the table of dialogue without conditions.
However, North Korea did not respond to dialogue, demanding that the United States abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea first, so denuclearization negotiations have not even started until a year after the Biden administration took office.
jbryoo@yna.co.kr
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2022/01/21 10:59 Send
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