“North Korea says recognition as a nuclear-weapon state is a condition for talks; Trump unlikely to accept”

[Financial News] Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on the 9th (local time) that North Korea is demanding recognition as a nuclear-weapon state as a condition for a North Korea-U.S. summit, but predicted that it would be virtually impossible for President Donald Trump, whose political position has weakened since the midterm elections, to accept the demand.
Campbell, who chairs the U.S. think tank The Asia Group, met that day with journalists from across the Asia-Pacific region, including Yonhap News Agency, and said, “As I understand it, North Korea has conveyed that the only condition under which it would consider a summit is for the United States to recognize it as a nuclear-weapon state.”
He added, “Given the current circumstances, it would be almost impossible for President Trump to accept this, and both Republicans and Democrats in the United States would immediately push back.”
He predicted that even if a North Korea-U.S. summit took place, “given these political conditions, it would be difficult to make progress beyond something like a handshake.”
Campbell cited the complicated U.S. political situation after the November 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans lost, as an obstacle to resuming diplomacy between North Korea and the United States.
“President Trump’s ambition to resume substantive diplomacy with North Korea has become even harder to achieve,” he said. “Going forward, any action President Trump takes on the international stage will draw a barrage of outspoken criticism and reproach from within the United States.”
Trump has reportedly shown a strong willingness to resume talks with North Korea, including by asking China to mediate.
Campbell said, “I understand that President Trump asked Chinese officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping for help in facilitating dialogue between North Korea and the United States.”
During his first term, from 2018 to 2019, President Trump held two summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and also met with him at Panmunjom. But after the Hanoi summit collapsed, negotiations between North Korea and the United States became deadlocked.
Even after returning to power last year, President Trump has expressed a willingness to resume talks with North Korea, but North Korea has called for the withdrawal of demands for denuclearization and recognition of its status as a nuclear-weapon state.
Meanwhile, Campbell also noted the competition between China and Russia for influence over North Korea.
He said, “What China currently considers most important regarding North Korea is maintaining its position as the most important dialogue partner, even as North Korea cooperates with Russia.”
He added, “In fact, a subtle competition is playing out between China and Russia over North Korea,” and said, “Kim Jong Un has walked a tightrope between the two countries very effectively.”


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs correspondent Reporter