Posted on : Dec.13,2019 17:29 KST
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US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft presides over a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea affairs in New York on Dec. 11. (Yonhap News)
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Trump shifts UNSC discussions on Pyongyang from human rights to general political affairs
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US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft presides over a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea affairs in New York on Dec. 11. (Yonhap News)
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Stephen Biegun, the US State Department’s special representative for North Korea and nominee for deputy secretary, will be visiting South Korea on Dec. 15-17. Biegun’s visit falls shortly before the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea (WPK), which North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said will be held toward the end of December to discuss and decide on major issues. As tensions rise over North Korea’s declaration of an “end-of-the-year deadline” and a “new path,” observers are discussing whether Biegun’s visit will lead to a turning point in Korean Peninsula affairs.
The biggest question is whether North Korea and the US will manage to arrange a meeting during Biegun’s time in South Korea. For the moment, at least, the prevailing view is that there’s not likely to be a closed-door meeting between the two sides at Panmunjom. But if Biegun comes carrying a private letter from US President Donald Trump, or even a verbal message, North Korea might assent to a meeting.
Biegun is reportedly planning to tour three countries in Northeast Asia, starting with South Korea and moving on to Japan and China. As suggested by the fact that Biegun’s first stop is Seoul, his tour’s goal is to arrange a meeting with the North Koreans while he’s in Seoul to discuss South Korea-US cooperative measures. Biegun plans to sit down with a range of senior South Korean officials from the Blue House, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Unification Ministry, including Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon. The tour had originally been proposed to introduce Biegun in his new position as Deputy Secretary of State, following his ratification by the US Senate. But since tensions have been rising sharply on the Korean Peninsula amid the standoff between North Korea and the US, Biegun’s visit is going ahead even though his ratification is still pending.
In the days before Biegun’s visit to South Korea, the US government appears to be focused more on managing the situation than on responding to a series of truculent statements by North Korea and its presumed engine test at Tongchang Village on Dec. 7. The US hasn’t even commented on North Korea’s derogatory description of Trump as a “heedless and erratic old man.”
The US also pulled the plug on a discussion of North Korean human rights at the UN Security Council (UNSC) that had been scheduled for Dec. 10, recognized globally as Human Rights Day. Instead, the US pivoted to discussing North Korean affairs at the UNSC on Dec. 11. While the foreign and domestic press interpreted the UNSC meeting as an American response to North Korea’s presumed engine test at Tongchang Village, that isn’t an accurate portrayal of the events. Trump apparently gave orders for the agenda of the UNSC discussion to be changed from “North Korean human rights” to “North Korean affairs.” That was a political decision by Trump aimed at halting further discussion of the North Korean human rights resolution, which Pyongyang has denounced as an “expression of a hostile policy,” and at lessening the ensuing political liability.
18th statement criticizing the US since working-level talks in Stockholm
But North Korea responded harshly with a statement by the spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry on Thursday afternoon, in which it promised to “never overlook” the US’ role in organizing a UNSC meeting designed to put more pressure on North Korea. “By holding the meeting, the US did a foolish thing which will boomerang on it, and decisively helped us make a definite decision on what way to choose,” the statement said. This seems to insinuate that North Korea has resolved to go down the “new path.” At the same time, the statement stressed that “we are ready to take a countermeasure corresponding to anything that the US opts for,” hinting that North Korea’s action will depend on American choices.
This statement came just three days after Ri Su-yong, vice chair of the WPK Central Committee, released a statement on the evening of Dec. 9 noting that Kim Jong-un had yet to announce any position; it was the 18th statement criticizing the US since the two sides held working-level talks in Stockholm on Oct. 5.
“We’re trying to use Biegun’s visit to South Korea as a means of improving the situation,” a senior official in the South Korean government said.
By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer
Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
