When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last week told that the country prepared for both “dialogue and confrontation” with the United States, eyebrows rose in Washington DC and the White House.
Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, took note of the statement and described it in the American press as an “interesting signal”. Sullivan is the leading security adviser to US President Joe Biden, and stated with a cautious optimism on behalf of Biden.
Now Sullivan and Biden’s cautious optimism and hopes of negotiations are apparently shattered by none other than the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
An unusual border crossing in North Korea has received a lot of attention. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry / Facebook / NTB
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Towards the United States
Sister Kim Yo-jong is a trusted supporter and adviser to North Korea’s leader, and holds a senior position in the North Korean regime.
In a statement to the North Korean news agency KCNA Kim’s sister goes against Sullivan’s statements.
First with a cryptic Korean saying, then in plain text.
Appeared after one year
“I heard the news that the US National Security Adviser has mentioned that he considers our attitude towards the US an ‘interesting signal’. A Korean saying goes: ‘In a dream, the most important thing is to interpret it, not to have it’. It seems that the United States may have interpreted the situation in such a way to reassure itself “, it is stated in the statement.
Then Kim Yo-jong goes to work a little harder.
“The expectation, which they choose to deal with incorrectly, will send them plunging into a greater disappointment.”
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Bidens line
Ever since Biden was sworn in as president on January 20 this year, the United States has said it is willing to negotiate with North Korea anytime, anywhere, but has also stressed the importance of letting go of the North Korean regime. on their nuclear weapons.
Experts do not think the United States will really be willing to face North Korea at a negotiating table before the North Korean regime makes certain concessions, according to the Guardian.
Biden’s approach to North Korea is described by the British newspaper as a hybrid between Donald Trump’s and Barack Obama’s approach to the closed regime.
Itches in the head after spectacular escape
While Donald Trump first took a very aggressive but then negotiating line towards Kim Jong-un, Barack Obama chose to wait for the right moment to start negotiations.
The right moment apparently never came under Obama.
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Ended in disappointment
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un met several times during Trump’s four years in office. They had two summits, but the last summit, in Hanoi in February 2019, ended in disappointment.
North Korea demanded that the United States lift many of its sanctions, but was unwilling to move far enough toward disarmament in the United States’ view. Trump and Kim parted ways in disagreement.
Called a “cruel cancerous tumor”
– This is a clear setback, said Professor Stein Tønnesson at the Peace Research Institute PRIO at the time.
Since then, there has been a standstill in relations between the two countries:
Biden has described North Korea’s nuclear program as a “serious threat” to US and world security, and North Korea has reached out to the United States to pursue a “hostile” policy.
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