The remains of Army Cpl. Burl Mullins, 23, of Dorton, Kentucky, killed during the Korean War, were accounted for April 23, 2020. (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency photo).
VIRGIE, Ky. (AP) — A funeral will be held this week for a Kentucky soldier killed during the Korean War, Fort Knox said.
The remains of Army Cpl. Burl Mullins will be interred Saturday at Osborne Cemetery in the Dorton community in Pike County after a funeral service in Virgie.
Mullins was a Dorton native and was a member of Heavy Mortar Company, 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, when he was reported missing in action Nov. 30, 1950. His unit had been attacked by enemy forces near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea.
His remains could not be recovered after the battle, and it was later learned he had been taken prisoner of war. He was 23 years old.
On July 27, 2018, following the summit between then- President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018, North Korea turned over 55 boxes, purported to contain the remains of American service members killed during the Korean War, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The remains arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on Aug. 1, 2018, and were subsequently accessioned into the DPAA laboratory for identification. To identify Mullins’ remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. Mullins’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from the Korean War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
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WASHINGTON, June 21 (Yonhap) — The United States constantly reviews its joint military exercises with South Korea to make sure their forces are properly trained and prepared to meet threats, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.
“We always say that we know we have to, our forces have got to be ready to fight tonight and we are constantly looking at the training events to make sure that they are appropriate and they are properly scaled to the threats and the challenges,” the spokesman, John Kirby, said at a press briefing.
The remarks come after Ely Ratner, nominee for assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said he, if confirmed, would review the United States’ joint military exercises to maintain readiness of U.S. forces in and around the Korean Peninsula.
The U.S. has some 28,500 troops station in South Korea.
North Korea periodically denounces joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises as war rehearsals that it says will continue to hinder inter-Korean relations and dialogue.
This file photo provided by the defense ministry on Feb. 9, 2021, shows the South Korean and the U.S. marine corps’ joint landing exercise held in April 2020. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Many in South Korea have voiced a need for the U.S. and South Korea to scale down or even cancel their joint military drills to foster dialogue with Pyongyang amid a U.S. outreach to the reclusive country.
Sung Kim, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, on Monday (Seoul time) said his country is willing to meet with North Korea ” anywhere, anytime without preconditions.”
The Defense Department spokesman said he had no changes in military training to announce, only noting the U.S. “constantly” reviews and assesses its military training programs “given the strategic environment” of the Korean Peninsula.
In Seoul, South Korea’s defense ministry said that close consultations are under way to fix the timing, scale and other details of an annual summertime combined exercise that the two countries have held usually in August.
“South Korea and the U.S. will make a decision on the exercise after taking into consideration all related factors, such as the COVID-19 situation, the maintenance of a combat readiness posture, the transfer of the wartime operational control, and supporting diplomacy for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan told a regular briefing on Tuesday.
The two sides usually stage major combined exercises twice a year — in around March and in August, along with smaller-scale drills throughout the year.
This year’s springtime program took place in March in a scaled-back manner amid the pandemic.
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President Moon Jae-in offers a seat to U.S. special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim before their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. Kim also had talks with National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and Unification Minister Lee In-young earlier in the day over the two nations’ coordination on North Korea issues. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok
S. Korea, US likely to abolish ‘working group’ forum By Nam Hyun-woo North Korea shot down the hopes of the United States and South Korea for dialogue on inter-Korean cooperation and denuclearization, with Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying Washington had the “wrong” expectations for talks. “It seems that the U.S. may interpret the situation in such a way as to seek comfort for itself,” Kim said in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, Tuesday. “The expectations, which they chose to harbor the wrong way, will plunge them into greater disappointment.” The statement came after U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview that the North was sending an “interesting signal,” referring to Kim Jong-un’s earlier comment during a Workers’ Party meeting June 17 that Pyongyang should be prepared for both “dialogue” and “confrontation” with the U.S. Kim Yo-jong’s statement came on the heels of efforts by Seoul and Washington to create a new conciliatory mood between the two Koreas, and Pyongyang and Washington, during the U.S. special envoy’s visit here. After meeting with his South Korean counterpart Noh Kyu-duk on Monday, special envoy Sung Kim said Washington would engage with Pyongyang “anywhere, anytime without preconditions.” Kim Yo-jong’s negative stance toward these efforts can be interpreted as the North stating it only wants a dialogue that serves its interests, experts said. “In some respects, there have been excessively optimistic interpretations of Kim Jong-un’s recent statements regarding dialogue,” said Go Myong-hyun, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “The U.S. is offering talks with North Korea while maintaining a firm stance on sanctions and denuclearization, but Pyongyang just wants to talk about sanctions. Kim Yo-jong’s message shows that the two sides’ goals for any talks are polar opposites, and Pyongyang only wants a dialogue that is in its best interests.” Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, also said the North had “yet to be prepared for immediate talks with the U.S.” “During the June 17 Workers’ Party meeting, Kim Jong-un said the North should be prepared both for confrontation and dialogue, and the regime will begin its preparations from now on,” Cheong said. “However, it is difficult to expect the U.S. and North Korea will easily find common ground given their deep rooted distrust. Thus, the U.S. should consider seeking to establish four-way talks involving China.” In another reconciliatory attempt, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that Seoul and Washington had agreed to consider ending their “working group” on North Korea policy, which Pyongyang has condemned as a major hurdle to improving inter-Korean relations. The group was set up in November 2018 to facilitate a coordinated North Korea approach between Seoul and Washington, as inter-Korean relations seemed to be improving following three summits between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim that year. The group, however, faced questions as it created setbacks at key conciliatory moments between the two Koreas. In 2019, the two agreed to Seoul providing Tamiflu influenza vaccine to Pyongyang as humanitarian aid, but this foundered after the group’s protracted review on whether trucks transporting the vaccine would violate sanctions on the North. When North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong in June last year, the regime named the working group as one of the reasons for poor relations between the South and North, with Kim Yo-jong condemning it as “a U.S.-obedience trap that South Korea set up by itself.” While signaling an end to the group, the U.S. promised greater support for any possible inter-Korean dialogue.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young, right, shakes hands with U.S. special envoy for North Korea Sung Kim during their meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in the Government Complex Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
During his meeting with Unification Minister Lee In-young, Tuesday, U.S. envoy Kim said Seoul and Washington “are very closely aligned on all important aspects of our North Korea policy,” and the U.S. supported “meaningful inter-Korean dialogue, cooperation and engagement.” The comment is in line with the outcome of the summit between Moon and U.S. President Joe Biden in May, which included Washington’s reaffirmation of the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration. The declaration states that the two Koreas would make efforts to establish a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. Lee said that “now is a critical watershed moment at which we can move into dialogue mode,” and Seoul and Washington should move in “an active and agile manner through a consensus.” After the meeting with the unification minister, Sung Kim met President Moon to discuss cooperation and coordination between the two nations on North Korea issues. “The Biden administration’s gradual approach toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through talks and diplomacy is appropriate,” Moon was quoted as telling Kim by presidential spokesman Park Kyung-mee. He also stressed that South Korea and the U.S. should cooperate to enable improvements in inter-Korean relations and talks between Washington and Pyongyang to progress in a “virtuous cycle.” Kim reaffirmed U.S. President Biden’s support for meaningful conversation, engagement and cooperation between the two Koreas, and pledged he would do his utmost to get talks between Washington and Pyongyang restarted, Park said. After meeting with Moon, Kim had talks with National Security Advisor Suh Hoon.
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From my service in Korea, I learned the value of what “We Go Together” truly means (Katchi Kapshida). The bond and connections that were made with the Korean Army, the country, and community were invaluable to me and my family. Everything from daily life to training involved being with, working with, or standing shoulder to shoulder with your Korean counterparts. Learning how to truly partner and be a great partner is a lesson that I have carried with me since my time in Korea.
저는 대한민국 복무 경험으로 부터 “같이갑시다”라는 모토의 진정으로 의미에 대한 가치를 배웠습니다. 대한민국 육군과 대한민국 그리고 대한민국의 사회와의 연대와 의리는 저와 제 가족들에게 소중한것이었습니다. 일상에서부터 훈련까지의 모든것들은 한국인들과 함께 어깨를 나란히 하며 이뤄낸것들입니다. 어떻게 진실되고 훌륭한 파트너가 되는지를 배운것이 제가 대한민국에서 근무를 시작한 이후 제 자신이 얻게된 교훈이었습니다.
I developed great relationships with not only Soldiers and other leaders, but within the community that were absolutely priceless. The people that my family and I grew to know in Korea, cared deeply about others and took the additional steps to foster and cultivate great relationships. In training with the Korean Army, I valued the singular focus on readiness and being ready to fight at a moment’s notice. It is a rarity to see not only a nation’s military force as well as their entire country ready to mobilize or fight at a moment’s notice. The motto of the 2nd Infantry Division; “Fight Tonight” is in my opinion, a lesson learned from working with our Korean counterparts, that evolved into a mindset. I value the mindset changes that my experience in Korea provided me by having the privilege of living with and among the great people of Korea.
저는 한국군 장병들과 지휘관들과 훌륭한 관계를 맺은 것 뿐만 아니라 대한민국 사회와도 값어치를 매길 수 없는 귀중한 관계를 얻게되었습니다. 대한민국에서 저의 가족과 제가 알게된 사람들은 타인들에게 깊은 관심을 가지고 좋은관계로 나아갈 수 있는 일들을 행하였습니다. 대한민국 육군과의 훈련에서 저는 빠른시간내로 전투준비테세를 갖추는 것을 최우선과업으로 여겼습니다. 대한민국 군대 뿐만 아니라 대한민국의 모든이들이 단 한 차례의 경보에도 모두 전투준비와 동원테세에 들어간다는 것은 절대 흔치 않은 일입니다. 제 생각에, “언제든지 나가 싸운다(Fight Tonight)”라는 미 2사단의 모토는 한국군으로부터 배우게된 하나의 마음가짐이라고 봅니다. 저는 대한민국의 훌륭한 이들과 함께 생활하는 특권을 누렸던 한국에서의 경험이 저에게 준 변화된 마음가짐을 소중히 생각합니다.
SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) — Soldiers and equipment of a U.S. armored brigade combat team have started to arrive in South Korea for a rotational deployment, the U.S. military said Saturday.
Tracked vehicles and other equipment of the Bulldog Brigade, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division, began arriving in the southern port city of Busan from Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this month, according to the Eighth Army.
The arriving brigade is replacing the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Georgia, which has been on a nine-month rotational deployment in support of 2nd Infantry Division, South Korea-U.S. Combined Division and Eighth Army, it said.
The Bulldog Brigade is the 10th rotational armored brigade to serve in Korea.
“The introduction of off-peninsula units to Korea exposes U.S. soldiers to the operating environment in the ROK, expands and enhances the partnership between the two armies, and supports the ironclad ROK-U.S Alliance,” it said in a release. ROK is short for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.
All soldiers upon arrival will be tested for the new coronavirus and put into 14-day mandatory quarantine.
About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the divided peninsula still technically at war.
A combat vehicle of the U.S. 3rd Armored Bulldog Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division, arrives in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan, in this undated photo provided by the U.S. Forces Korea on June 19, 2021. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) — The United States has offered to meet with North Korea “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” and looks forward to a positive response from Pyongyang, the new U.S. special envoy for the North said Monday.
Ambassador Sung Kim made the remarks during trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Noh Kyu-duk and Takehiro Funakoshi, in Seoul, where they discussed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s recent remarks that his country should be ready for both dialogue and confrontation.
“We continue to hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our outreach and our offer to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions,” Kim said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim also stressed that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will continue to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang.
“We will also urge all U.N. member states, especially U.N. Security Council members, to do the same, to address the threat posed to the international community by the DPRK,” he said.
Sung Kim, new U.S. special representative for North Korea, speaks during trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul in this pool photo taken on June 21, 2021. (Yonhap)
Kim took over as special representative for the North last month while concurrently serving as ambassador to Indonesia. His trip to Seoul came after North Korea concluded a four-day plenary meeting of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee last week.
At the meeting, the North Korean leader called for his country to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, but more importantly the latter, and stressed the need for the “stable control” of the Korean Peninsula situation.
Kim’s directive was construed as a sign of his openness to dialogue as well as an implicit call for Washington to offer more concrete incentives for the resumption of nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Kim’s comments an “interesting signal,” saying, “We will wait to see whether they are followed up with any kind of more direct communication to us about a potential path forward.”
Nuclear talks between the U.S. and the North have remained stalled since the Hanoi summit between then U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim in 2019 ended without a deal.
During his bilateral talks with Noh earlier in the day, the U.S. envoy said that Washington will also be prepared for either dialogue or confrontation.
“We will be prepared for either, because you know, we are still waiting to hear back from Pyongyang,” he said. “Hopefully, Chairman Kim’s reference to dialogue indicates that we will get a positive response soon.”
After the talks, the U.S. envoy reaffirmed the two countries’ shared commitment to pursuing the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through diplomacy and dialogue.
“I also reiterated our support for meaningful inter-Korean dialogue, cooperation and engagement as our two leaders did in Washington, during President Moon’s visit to Washington,” he said, referring to the May 21 summit.
Noh said during talks with Kim that Seoul will continue to play a “necessary” role for the early resumption of dialogue with Pyongyang through coordination with Washington.
“We wish to restore the structure where inter-Korean and U.S.-DPRK relations reinforce each other in a mutually beneficial way,” he said.
Noh later held separate bilateral talks with Funakoshi, and the two sides agreed that bilateral and trilateral cooperation between the three countries is “essential” for regional peace and stability, especially dealing with the North.
“We’ve had very close consultation in the process of the U.S. policy review for North Korea and today’s meeting will be another starting point for our policy consultation,” he said at the start of the talks.
Later in the day, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met with Kim and his delegation and called for “watertight” cooperation between Seoul and Washington to make substantive progress in peace efforts on the peninsula.
Kim was accompanied by Deputy Special Representative Jung Pak and Adam Farrar, director for the Korean Peninsula at the National Security Council.
Kim, who doubles as ambassador to Indonesia, arrived here Saturday for a five-day visit. It marks his first trip since Biden announced his appointment last month in a signal of his administration’s readiness for dialogue with the North.
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Kim Jong Un, center, speaks during a Workers’ Party meeting in Pyongyang on June 17.Photographer: KCNA/AP Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he’s ready for “both dialogue and confrontation,” offering an opening for talks as U.S. President Joe Biden’s new nuclear envoy heads to the region to build support for a strategy toward Pyongyang.
The comments, made in a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of his ruling Workers’ Party of Korea on Thursday, are the first high-level suggestion of talks since Biden replaced Donald Trump, who met Kim three times. Pyongyang has so far rebuffed Biden’s requests for dialogue as a “time-delaying trick” and lambasted the U.S. president’s comments that were critical of North Korea’s arms buildup.
Shares of companies expected to benefit from better ties between North Korea and South Korea rallied Friday morning in Seoul on the news. Biden’s special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, is due to hold talks with his counterparts from Seoul and Tokyo on Monday during his visit.
But Kim also tempered the remarks with a call for the country to “get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state and its interests,” according to a Friday report from the official Korean Central News Agency. The message follows a pledge from Kim made at the start of the year to develop more advanced nuclear technology.
Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House in April and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in May, the first foreign leaders to be invited to his official residence. The visits signaled the importance he places on his country’s relationship with the two allies, which together host the bulk of U.S. troops in Asia. Moon has been pressing the U.S. to resume stalled nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang.
“Kim’s courteous reminder will probably be received differently in Washington and Seoul,” said Soo Kim, a Rand Corp. policy analyst who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency.
She said the message from the North Korean leader won’t do much to change Biden’s approach but it could offer encouragement to the Moon administration, which has been “dangling carrots before Kim to entice the North Koreans to return to the dialogue table.”
“Kim will only grant dialogue to the U.S. and South Korea when his conditions are met,” Soo Kim said.
The North Korean leader has shown no interest in resuming nuclear talks that could offer relief from sanctions choking his state’s economy. North Korea has been finding ways to dodge sanctions through cybercrimes and illegal trade from ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas, according to reports made to the United Nations Security Council.
Still, his country is feeling the pinch. North Korea’s economy will barely grow in 2021 after its worst contraction in decades as it continues to struggle with the pandemic, international sanctions to punish it for its nuclear and missile testing, and a lack of trade with its main benefactor, China, Fitch Solutions said in April.
China believes “the situation on the Korean peninsula is facing new tensions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular briefing in Beijing Friday, calling on the parties “to grasp the opportunity and work for the gradual de-escalation of the situation.”
North Korea tested two short-range ballistic missiles in March, the first since Biden took office. It has so far refrained from the type of provocations it used when Barack Obama and Trump began their presidencies, which included nuclear tests and long-range missile launches.
The North Korean leader appears to be focused on taking care of internal matters for the time being rather than ratcheting up regional tensions through military provocations, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook told parliament this month.
Earlier in the week at the same political meeting, Kim Jong Un made a rare admission that the food situation at home was “growing tense,” due to typhoons last year that wiped out crops. The comments underscored farm-sector shortfalls that have left 40% of the population undernourished by World Food Program estimates, and made worse by his decision to close borders to prevent Covid.
While Kim was talking with Trump, he was busy adding to his stockpile of fissile material and missiles that can deliver warheads to the U.S. and its allies, increasing his leverage for when disarmament talks resume. Despite economic hardships, Kim has pressed ahead with a nuclear arsenal that North Korea has long said prevents a U.S. invasion.
Return of Rocket Man
Missile tests under Kim Jong Un
Sources: South Korea Ministry of Defense and Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Trump’s former envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said in an interview this month with the Arms Control Association that he believes a negotiated settlement with Pyongyang is possible.
Biegun sees the Biden policy as a continuation of what his team was looking for, which is “an agreement on a path toward denuclearization with a certain endpoint that is complete denuclearization but that we can structure along the way with some flexibility.”
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SEOUL, June 17 (Yonhap) — Gen. Paul LaCamera will take office as the new commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) next month, the U.S. military said Thursday.
LaCamera, who most recently served as Army Pacific Commander, will replace Gen. Robert Abrams to lead the 28,500-strong USFK in a change of command ceremony slated for July 2 at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, according to USFK.
Abrams led the USFK since November 2018.
The USFK commander also heads the United Nations Command and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.
LaCamera was initially nominated to the post in December by then U.S. President Donald Trump but the confirmation process was delayed, apparently due to the government changes in Washington.
During his confirmation hearing last month, LaCamera highlighted the importance of joint field exercises between South Korea and the United States, saying he will work for their resumption if confirmed.
The two countries regularly hold joint military drills, but their exercises have mostly been computer-simulated due to the coronavirus situation and efforts to back denuclearization dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
USFK said next month’s ceremony will be streamed live on its official Facebook page.
The image captured from the website of the Senate Armed Services Committee shows Gen. Paul LaCamera, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on May 18, 2021, on his nomination as commander of U.S. Forces Korea. (Yonhap)
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WASHINGTON, June 16 (Yonhap) — The United States and South Korea need to make more conciliatory gestures, including a suspension of their planned joint military exercise, to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table, U.S. and South Korean experts said Wednesday.
They also highlighted the need to build more trust with the reclusive North to realize their goal of completely denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
“North Korea might be very, very hesitant to have a dialogue with the United States because North Korea regards joint military exercise … a sign of hostile intention and policy by the United States,” said Moon Chung-in, a former special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in for unification and national security affairs, noting Seoul and Washington have a joint military exercise, Ulchi Freedom Guardian, scheduled to start in August.
“Therefore, the first thing is whether our government, after consulting the United States, announces that the August military joint military exercise will be suspended,” he added in a webinar jointly hosted by the National Committee on North Korea, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization, and the Seoul-based East Asia Foundation think tank.
The captured image shows Moon Chung-in, a former professor of Seoul’s Yonsei University and former special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in for unification and national security, speaking in a webinar jointly hosted by the Washington-based National Committee on North Korea and Seoul-based East Asia Foundation on June 16, 2021. (Yonhap)
Wednesday’s webinar on how to jumpstart diplomacy with North Korea came amid a prolonged hiatus in U.S.-North Korea dialogue.
Pyongyang has stayed away from denuclearization negotiations since leader Kim Jong-un’s 2019 summit in Hanoi with former U.S. President Donald Trump ended without a deal.
The new Joe Biden administration sought to engage with the North in February, then again when its review of its North Korea policy was completed in April, but the North reportedly remains unresponsive to the U.S. overtures.
Frank Aum, a senior expert on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace think tank, noted the U.S. believes the ball is now in North Korea’s court following its outreaches.
He, however, insisted the U.S. should do more to bring the North back to the dialogue table.
“If North Korea continues to be hesitant about returning to talks, then I still think the U.S. should consider a range of unilateral, conciliatory gestures to pave the way for sustained communications and negotiations with North Korea because the reality today is that North Korea is an insecure country that has nuclear weapons, but there’s a real deficit of trust, understanding, and communications on both sides,” he said.
Aum said the unilateral and conciliatory measures the U.S. can take may include its willingness to declare a formal end to the Korean War, as well as a more “definitive statement” from Biden about U.S. seeking new U.S.-North Korea relations.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended only with an armistice, leaving the divided Koreas technically at war to date.
“Ultimately, I think we need to get into a virtuous cycle of reconciliation, as we saw a little bit in 2018, and, in my opinion, I think the U.S. is in the best position to assume some risks towards peace and take the first steps, given our robust defense and deterrence posture,” he added.
Susan Thornton, former U.S. acting assistant secretary of East Asia and Pacific affairs, agreed the U.S. should do more to bring North Korea back to the table than just wait.
“I think to get diplomacy going with North Korea, we really have to get a lot more consensus first inside the United States, and then with our partners on how to approach North Korea,” she said.
“So I think my emphasis is on coming up with a workable plan that’s more realistic in the time that we are spending waiting and not just let the ball be in North Korea’s court,” she added.
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WASHINGTON, June 15 (Yonhap) — Strict and continued enforcement of sanctions on North Korea while also seeking to engage with the reclusive state diplomatically are important to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the nominee for U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs said Tuesday.
Daniel Kritenbrink also said he would try to find ways to further strengthen sanctions on the North if confirmed.
“As I noted at the outset, the Biden-Harris administration is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And, if confirmed, I would support an approach that relies both on sanctions enforcement and deterrence, as well as a practical calibrated approach, open to diplomacy,” he said in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“If confirmed, I would be delighted to learn more about the BRINK Act and how we can strengthen the sanctions regime, but Senator, I do agree enforcing the sanctions regime with the tools that we have…is vitally important to the denuclearization goals that we have,” he said when asked about the possible role of the sanctions regime can play in putting pressure on North Korea.
The image captured from the website of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee shows Daniel Kritenbrink, nominee for assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, delivering opening remarks in a confirmation hearing in Washington on June 15, 2021. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The BRINK Act or Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea Act is a 2017 bill that sought to cut off the North’s access to the international banking system, which was prompted by the death of a then 22-year-old U.S. student, Otto Warmbier, who died six days after he was released from the North after a yearlong detention on charges of stealing a propaganda poster.
The proposed bill failed to pass U.S. Congress.
North Korea still faces various U.S. and international sanctions, including those under U.N. Security Council resolutions, that prohibit U.N. members and their businesses from doing business with the North, especially in energy and arms-related areas.
The Joe Biden administration sought to engage with Pyongyang in February, then again in April when its monthlong review of North Korea policy came to end.
North Korea reportedly remains unresponsive to the U.S. overtures.
The U.S. ambassador to Vietnam highlighted the importance of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula through diplomacy.
“President Biden has stated we remain committed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and will work with allies to address that threat through diplomacy and deterrence,” he told the Senate committee in the hearing.
“If confirmed, I will work to ensure North Korea and others abide by UN Security Council resolutions while supporting a calibrated and practical diplomatic approach that prioritizes the security of the United States, our allies, and our deployed military forces,” the nominee added.
Kritenbrink said strengthening U.S. alliances will be the first of his six priorities as an assistant secretary of state, which also include the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“Our network of alliances and partnerships is our greatest strategic asset, enabling us to pool our strengths to advance shared interests, deter common threats, and promote universal values — including our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is rules-based and unconstrained by coercion,” he said in his opening remarks submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“If confirmed, strengthening these relationships will be my top priority. The priority placed on our treaty alliances was demonstrated by President Biden’s hosting of his Japanese and Republic of Korea counterparts in April and May,” added Kritenbrink.
Biden hosted his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, in Washington on May 21, which marked his second in-person meeting with a foreign leader since taking office in January. Biden’s first in-person summit was held in April with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
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