North Korea's UN envoy says denuclearization off negotiating table with US

Denuclearization is off the negotiating table with the United States and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed said North Korea's envoy to the United Nations on December 7. The statement by Ambassador Kim Song has added to North Korea’s earlier warning that discussions related to its nuclear weapons program are off as Washington has refused to offer concessions. Denuclearizing North Korea has been the central focus of US engagement with North Korea in the past two years. The “sustained and substantial dialogue” sought by the United States was a “time-saving trick” to suit its domestic political agenda, said Song in a statement.

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Speaking to a news agency, the envoy said that North Korea does not need to have long talks with the US now and denuclearization is already gone out of the negotiating table. EU members of the UN Security Council criticized recent short-range launches by North Korea this week and Song hit out on that calling it a “serious provocation” against Pyongyang and saying they were playing the role of “pet dog” of the United States.

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N Korea demands unilateral denuclearization

North Korea had set a year-end deadline for the US to change its policy of demanding Pyongyang’s unilateral denuclearization and demanded relief from punishing sanctions. Tensions have risen as it is already December and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned that he could take an unspecified “new path” in 2020. Kim's statement could mean a return to the nuclear bomb and long-range missile testing suspended since 2017. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on December 4 reiterated the call for the US to change its “hostile policies” and said it was up to Washington to decide what “Christmas gift” came at the end of the year. 

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Tensions between North Korea, US

Though the countries' leaders have met three times since 2018, the talks have not turned out fruitful. Their rhetorics has been considerably derogatory as in 2017, Trump called Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man” and North Korea slammed the US president, 73, as a “dotard”. The same reference was repeated by Trump on December 4 as he called Kim “Rocket Man” and said the United States reserved the right to use military force against North Korea. To this, North Korea replied that any repeat of such language would represent “the relapse of the dotage of a dotard". Yet Trump has maintained his hope that North Korea will denuclearize. Besides this, the US ambassador to the UN on Friday said that the United States had not yet decided whether to have a UN Security Council meeting to discuss North Korean human rights abuses that have angered Pyongyang. Moreover, Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a half-hour phone discussion on ways to maintain diplomacy with North Korea on Friday. As per reports, the leaders agreed that the situation has become “severe” and that “dialogue momentum should be maintained to achieve prompt results from denuclearization negotiations”.

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(With inputs from agencies)