Kim Jong un holds the key to future US‑North Korea talks
According to the Yonhap agency, regardless of the policy of the new U.S. president, who will be elected on Tuesday, November 5, the latest move regarding talks with North Korea about nuclear disarmament will belong to Kim Jong Un's regime. The key issue will be whether Kim is willing to talk at all, assesses Yonhap agency.
Yonhap agency emphasizes that the upcoming elections in the United States take place at a time when Seoul is striving to maintain close relations with Washington in the face of growing nuclear and missile threats from Pyongyang. Regardless of the policy that the future U.S. president will adopt towards the Korean Peninsula, the key issue is whether North Korea will decide to engage in talks on nuclear disarmament, assesses Yonhap agency, as quoted by the Polish Press Agency.
Biden's administration has repeatedly offered Pyongyang dialogue "without preconditions," but the North Korean regime has responded with a series of missile tests and other provocations, recalls Yonhap.
If talks on the denuclearization of North Korea resume, they may be "much more difficult" than before, notes the agency. This is due to the strengthening relations between Pyongyang and Russia, maintaining close ties with China, as well as advances in developing nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles.
Donald Trump, if he returns to the White House, "might seek to revive personal diplomacy with the North Korean leader," writes Yonhap. The former president often emphasized his relations with Kim Jong Un and during his term organized historic summits involving leaders of both countries, which, however, did not result in lasting denuclearization outcomes.
Experts cited by the agency believe that a potential win by Kamala Harris would continue the conventional diplomatic approach, as in the case of Joe Biden.
Such actions are expected to strengthen bilateral and trilateral cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo in terms of security, and intensify deterrence measures against North Korea, "while keeping the doors open for diplomacy with the resistant regime."
