Iran-style nuclear deal for North Korea? Kim signals no.
The regime of Kim Jong-un says it is already a nuclear weapons state and so can't be considered alongside Iran for talks. Pyongyang blamed its need for a nuclear program on a 'hostile' US policy.
The regime of Kim Jong-un says it is already a nuclear weapons state and so can't be considered alongside Iran for talks. Pyongyang blamed its need for a nuclear program on a 'hostile' US policy.
Pyongyang broke its silence on the Iran nuclear deal today, saying bluntly it has no intention of entering Vienna-style negotiations over its nuclear program or over its cache of up to 20 nuclear devices.
US and South Korean diplomats suggested last week the deeply isolated North Korean regime might consider the kind of nonproliferation talks that Tehran engaged in.
But the Kim family dynasty in Pyongyang, which has for years relied on a 鈥渕ilitary first鈥� policy, today said its program is 鈥渘ot a plaything to be put on the negotiating table.鈥�
A statement from the regime鈥檚 Korean Central News Agency said that Pyongyang's situation is different from Iran's since it has a successful program and that it 鈥渞emains unchanged in the mission of its nuclear force as long as the US continues pursuing its hostile policy.鈥�
The Kim Jong-un regime has conducted three successful nuclear tests and has an active missile program that can reach all parts of the Korean peninsula and nearby Japan, and is on a pace to reach parts of the US West Coast.聽
After the deal in Geneva to lift economic sanctions on Iran and unfreeze assets in exchange for a phased dismantling of its program, South Korea鈥檚 unification minister said that that North is the only nation now able to 鈥渋ntimidate鈥� the rest of the world. Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd last week also said that after the deal with Iran was complete, Western leaders would begin to look more closely at North Korea.
Whether or not Mr. Kim would take a different security path, the key question for one leading Korea analyst is whether there is already an agreement under the table with Teheran for it to stop cooperating with Pyongyang: Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations says that how North Korea now responds to the new deal "ultimately will depend on whether US negotiators also have a tacit understanding with Iran to curtail questionable relationships with North Korea in these areas.鈥澛營f North Korea "loses another customer," Mr. Snyder believes, "Pyongyang may take notice."
The Monitor story on July 14 by Donald Kirk in Seoul suggests the North鈥檚 nuclear program may be a more 鈥渢roubling鈥� issue: 聽