"hostile" policy that includes sanctions, military moves and criticism of North Korea's human rights situation. Earlier this year, senior North Korea officials asserted that no contact would be made unless Biden first took steps toward shifting the U.S. Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool/Getty Imagesīut so far there has been no clear indication that Kim is ready to reply. North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un (center, far L) and his wife Ri Sol Ju (center, 2nd L) bid farewell to South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) at Moon's departure from North Korea at Samjiyon airport on Septemin Samjiyon, North Korea following the third and last inter-Korean summit between the two leaders and the fifth ever since the 1945 division of the Korean Peninsula and the war that followed. "Ultimately, we hope DPRK will respond positively to our outreach." "Our offer remains to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions," the official said. Today, Biden is seeking to re-establish at least some of these links to a Cold War-era nuclear-armed foe with which the U.S.
has traditionally prioritized the surrender of North Korea's nuclear arsenal in addressing the intractable issue, Biden's predecessor, former President Donald Trump, set the precedent for direct, high-level diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. "As we've said, we have reached out to the DPRK in line with our policy of openness to diplomacy." "We remain prepared to engage in diplomacy toward our objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," the senior Biden administration official said. These remarks were also conveyed to Newsweek by a senior Biden administration official, who expanded on the U.S. Diplomacy and dialogue are essential to achieving complete denuclearization and to establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula." "The United States supports inter-Korean dialogue and engagement and welcomes the announcement on the restoration of inter-Korean communications lines," a State Department spokesperson told Newsweek. The Biden administration shares that hope. Now, the recent developments, which also include news that Moon had exchanged several letters with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un since April, were seen by the rival Koreas as reflective of improving relations. Last year's suspension of contact was initiated by Pyongyang in response to South Korean activists sending anti-North Korean government leaflets across the border.īut cutting these ties last June was also one of many signals from North Korea at the time, along with the detonating of a joint liaison office with South Korea, that the historic yet stalled talks launched alongside Seoul and Washington in 2018 were not producing the desired results.
The sudden shift in atmosphere between North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), came about as both sides announced on July 27 that contact had been reestablished across the Demilitarized Zone that separates them, ending 14 months of silence along these cross-border communication lines. President Joe Biden's administration has offered to meet unconditionally with North Korea, and his ally on the peninsula feels the timing today is right, Newsweek has learned from officials in Washington and Seoul.Īmid an apparent easing of tensions in the region that has emerged over the past week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in's government sees an opportunity to work with the United States to rekindle efforts for peace before he leaves office early next year.