Republic of Korea’s envoy trip to northern Korea has produced a Baby Kim promise to play nice with the RoK and to talk with us about nuclear weapons.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised to not use nuclear or conventional weapons against South Korea and expressed willingness to hold talks with the United States on denuclearization, Seoul said on Tuesday after a rare two-day visit to Pyongyang.
The Hermit Kingdom added that it’s willing to give up its nuclear weapons if military threats against North Korea subsides….
RoK National Security Director Chung Eui-yong said after his safe return to Seoul
The North side clearly affirmed its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and said it would have no reason to possess nuclear weapons should the safety of its regime be guaranteed and military threats against North Korea removed[.]
We believe Baby Kim because he’s never lied to us before, and northern Korea always kept its past commitments to stop their nuclear weapons programs and never attacked RoK assets and islands without provocation. Nor have they ever threatened Japan (which just happens to be an ally of ours) by flying ICBMs over its home islands.
Too, with northern Korea as close as it is to getting nuclear warheads onto its missiles, this…promise…from Baby Kim couldn’t possibly be just another attempt at distraction until they finish the task. Not at all.
No, everything’s jake.
intelligence agencies predicted that North Korea would press ahead with more missile tests and would resist negotiating away its nuclear arsenal. But on Thursday, South Korea’s national-security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, conveyed Mr. Kim’s invitation to meet and noted that North Korea had promised to suspend nuclear and missile tests while it engages in talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Part of the problem with Baby Kim’s…offer…is its practical ambiguity.
It may be an effort to demonstrate his sincerity in wanting negotiations.
It may be that he’s taking advantage of a planned interregnum in testing as his weapons engineers and scientists work over the data they’ve collected from the latest flury of tests and flights before they do any more testing and missile flights.
Eric Hines