Japan’s Warning: North Korea Is ‘Playing For Time’ As Talks With South Korea Proceed

The Japanese are warning the world that Pyongyang may be using the newest talks with South Korea to buy time to pursue its weapons program. United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also warned of complacency at a Tuesday summit in Vancouver, Canada.

South Korea pressed ahead with talks to include its northern neighbor in next month’s Winter Olympics Wednesday, but not without allies expressing concern that North Korea is continuing its nuclear weapons program.  According to CNN,  Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono called on the international community to be clear-eyed about North Korea’s motivations for participating in the talks, which have been hailed by some as the most significant thaw in ties in years. “I believe that North Korea wants to buy some time to continue their nuclear and missile programs,” Kono said at the meeting. “It’s not the time to ease pressure towards North Korea,” he said.

China, a nation which was not invited to the talks in Vancouver, denounced the meeting, and the United Nations Command, under whose framework they are being held as demonstrating “Cold War mentality.” [Such thinking] “will only lead to split in the international community and harm the joint efforts that could properly solve the nuclear issue on Korea peninsula,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wednesday.

Officials from both sides of the Korean Peninsula met Wednesday for the third round of talks to discuss North Korea’s participation in the Pyeongchang, South Korea Winter Games next month. The International Olympic Committee is expected to discuss the proposals on Friday.

Discussed in Vancouver, were topics such as the US Air Force’s deployment of six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to Guam, and a Japanese national broadcaster who apologized for sending an alert that incorrectly stated North Korea had launched a ballistic missile, just days after Hawaii had a similar scare. North Korea test-fired two missiles last year that overflew northern Japan.

Also while in Vancouver, Tillerson declined an opportunity to clarify whether President Donald Trump has spoken with Kim Jong Un.

There’s been a growing hope that these face-to-face talks could signal the beginning of a broader de-escalation of the global nuclear crisis, but there now appears to be a concern among Seoul’s allies and partners that North Korea might be just playing them for the time needed to make advancements in their nuclear weaponry.

South Korea: ‘It Won’t Be Easy For North Korea To Destroy Nuclear Arsenal’ Because It’s So Advanced

According to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, it won’t be a simple task for North Korea to destroy their nuclear arsenal even if they wanted to. Moon says that because the communist nation’s weaponry is so advanced and more developed than most realize, simple destruction isn’t possible.

North Korea is under heavy international pressure to end its weapons programs, pursued in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. But it has vowed never to give up its nuclear arsenal giving a metaphorical middle finger to the United Nations. According to Reuters, speaking to reporters in the Philippines, Moon said that if North Korea agreed to hold talks, negotiations could be held with all options open.

“If talks begin to resolve the North Korea nuclear issue, I feel it will be realistically difficult for North Korea to completely destroy its nuclear capabilities when their nuclear and missile arsenal are at a developed stage,” Moon said in a briefing. “If so, North Korea’s nuclear program should be suspended, and negotiations could go on to pursue complete denuclearization.” But talks, according to Washington, aren’t in the works. 

Last week, the North said it did not oppose dialogue, but would “never put the issue related to the supreme interests of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)  and security of its people on the bargaining table”.

“We are not interested in such dialogue and negotiations in the least,” the North’s official news agency said, referring to the country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The North defends the programs as a necessary defense against Washington’s plans to invade. The United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, and a legacy of involvement in the 1950-53 Korean war, denies any such intention.

United States President Donald Trump has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as North Korea races toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States. Trump threatened in his maiden U.N. address to “totally destroy” North Korea if the United States was threatened and has said the time for talking, the policy of previous U.S. administrations, is over.

Moon also reiterated his stance that now was the time to increase pressure on North Korea so that it would come to talks. He said differences in understanding between South Korea and China, North Korea’s lone major ally, regarding the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on South Koran soil had not been resolved. “China has not said it has changed its stance to agree to THAAD and still says THAAD infringes on its security. We have, in turn, explained THAAD is not aimed at China but only toward curbing North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations,” he said.