Pyongyang`s isolation inevitable without giving up nukes

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong reportedly conveyed on Saturday its leader Kim Jong Un’s personal letter that is inviting U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Pyongyang. North Korea`s young leader has not had any single summit even with its ally China for nearly three years since inheriting power from his father. Hence he is apparently seeking to overcome Pyongyang’s diplomatic isolation through U.N. Secretary General Ban’s visit to the Stalinist country. Ban has said he could visit "when conditions are ready," and "in principle." However, given that the international community has yet to find any progress in the efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, Ban would not afford to visit Pyongyang only to help Kim Jong Un make debut on the global stage.

The North dispatched its Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong to the U.N. General Assembly for the first time in 15 years, but only demonstrated that the North has not changed in the way it perceives the situation even after the inauguration of the Kim Jong Un regime. In his speech as the North`s chief envoy to the U.N., Ri said, “Once threats on our self-reliance and the right to independence are removed, the nuclear issue will be resolved,” while blaming Washington’s hostile policy towards Pyongyang. This is an act that constitutes distortion of facts. In the Geneva agreement with Pyongyang in October 1995, Washington already promised that it would not use nuclear weapons against North Korea, nor would it threaten the North by using nuclear weapons, but Pyongyang has secretively developed nuclear weapons and brought about by itself sanctions by the U.N. and international community.

The International Atomic Energy Agency made it clear on Friday that it can never accept the North’s nuclear weapons by adopting in an unanimous vote a resolution to condemn Pyongyang in connection with signs that the Communist country recently resumed operation of a nuclear reactor in Yongbyon. The North is threatening the international community, by saying, “Our nuclear deterrence has already entered the phase of ultrahigh-precision and small-scale nuclear weapons.” But unless the North gives up nuclear weapons, its "economic construction and improvement of people’s livelihoods" can never be achieved. The international community has also expressed mounting concern and criticism over a grave human rights situation in the North.

Given completely stalled inter-Korean ties, the South Korean government also needs to re-examine its North Korea policy. Following South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s statement in her U.N. speech that a unified Korean Peninsula is the starting point of a world free of nuclear weapons and a fundamental solution to human rights issues, Pyongyang has strenuously protested for three consecutive days. To resolve the North Korean nuclear issue is foremost in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. Given that this requires a long time and patience, it is more practical for the South to embrace flexibility in its policy by addressing easier tasks such as humanitarian assistance in parallel, before tackling tougher ones. The two Koreas should recognize that the situation of mounting distrust, hatred and military tension with ceased dialogue channels will help none of them.