The US is Prepared to Enter Talks with North Korea About Nuclear Program Without Preconditions

  |  
Jul 19, 2023

Tensions between North Korea and the United States have dialed up after North Korea has increased the frequency of its missile launches. Such movements have come in response to the increased number of joint US-South Korean military drills being carried out on the peninsula. 

In light of these developments, national security adviser Jake Sullivan revealed that the Biden regime is ready to negotiate with North Korean authorities “without preconditions” about the country’s nuclear program.  

“We have indicated to North Korea that we’re prepared to sit down and talk without preconditions about their nuclear program,” Sullivan said to “Face the Nation” on July 16, 2023, a few days after the North Koreans test launched an ICBM.

For the last few months, South Korean and Western officials have been concerned over what they believe could be a potential North Korean nuclear test occurring soon. However, Sullivan has indicated that he has not seen “any immediate indications” of a nuclear weapons test happening anytime soon.

“But it would not come as a surprise that North Korea moved forward with another nuclear test,” he stated.

“With respect to its intercontinental ballistic missile capability, this is a capability they began testing several years ago,” Sullivan added. “They have continued to test it. We watch all of those tests very closely to see how it is developing and we could coordinate extremely closely with our allies — with Japan and Korea —  to make sure that we are responding in lockstep to this threat.” 

Sullivan took the time to criticize China as well, who he believes has not played a constructive role in defusing tensions with North Korea. 

“We’ve also made clear to China that it is the United States who is ready for diplomacy and North Korea who was not,” Sullivan declared.

“So from our perspective, China has a role to play here too, given its relationship with North Korea, to indicate to the North Koreans that its continued testing is destabilizing, and, frankly, is in fact only creating circumstances in which the United States our allies and partners have to step up our activities and posture to respond to the threat.” 

Indeed, US and North Korean relations will likely never normalize. Nevertheless, US efforts to defuse tensions with the North are largely motivated by the fear that North Korea might be drifting too far into the Russia-China axis, a move that could see its military capabilities upgraded to frightening levels. 

Simply put, the US will need to come to grips with the realities of a nuclear North Korea and allow for its defense partners in East Asia to craft their own defense policies — without US entanglement — to address the North Korean question. Let’s hope that rational diplomacy prevails here and US leaders reconsider the previous strategy of completely isolating North Korea.

Our Latest Articles