I think the Sanctions have hurt North Korea to the point where they might denuclearize to survive
I think what might be happening now is that the people in North Korea are dying so fast through starvation now because of sanctions that the government in order to remain in power at all "has" to consider talks on denuclearization at this point. They might lie about actually doing this but I think sanctions are just killing so many of their people now that they really have no choice but to pretend (at least) to be considering denuclearization.
North Korea offers to begin talks with U.S. to denuclearize, South Korea says
South Korea's national security director, Chung Eui-yong, the head of the delegation to Pyongyang, speaks to the media at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on Tuesday. (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)
In a potential historic breakthrough, North Korea has offered to freeze its illicit nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs to engage in talks with the United States, South Korean officials said Tuesday.
The surprise announcement came after South Korea's spy chief and its top national security official returned Tuesday night to Seoul from a meeting in Pyongyang with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.
Kim's negotiators also said they would cease any new nuclear tests and missile launches as the talks progress. The North has tested four nuclear devices and dozens of increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles since 2013, raising fears it could soon attain the ability to launch a nuclear attack against the United States.
The North Korean's announced willingness to agree in principle to the idea of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula would match a longtime U.S. goal, but it came with significant caveats.
"The North Korean side clearly stated its willingness to denuclearize," South Korea's government said in a statement. "It made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed."
President Trump, who has traded insults with the North Korea leader he derisively calls "Little Rocket Man," reacted with guarded skepticism early Tuesday. "We will see what happens!," he wrote on Twitter.
He later posted a more complete statement on Twitter, calling the South Korean statement a sign of "possible progress."
Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!
North Korea's apparent offer to give up its growing nuclear arsenal only if the "military threat" against it and its dynastic leadership were removed could complicate talks.
That broad wording could mean Pyongyang will insist the United States cease its annual military exercises with the South — or potentially leave the peninsula entirely, as North Korea has long sought.
The United States has more than 20,000 troops deployed in South Korea, and much of the U.S. military and national security apparatus is focused on the threat from North Korea.
Despite those question marks, the statement stunned many inter-Korean security experts and analysts in Washington.
"It's very encouraging. If North Korea has really committed to denuclearizing, that is a positive step forward," said Chun Yung-woo, a onetime national security advisor to former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who took a hard line with the totalitarian North.
"I must see if our understanding of North Korea's commitment is the same as what North Korea really means. There are some conditions that must be clarified," he added.
"No one I know had expected this," said Kim Byoung-joo, an affiliate professor of foreign studies at Hankuk University. "It will be very difficult for the U.S. to offer any negative response to this."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called it "good news" and said his country "stands ready to play a positive role" to ensure the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. China is North Korea's largest trading partner, but it has increasingly supported United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang in an effort to curtail its nuclear program.
The surprising announcement followed a failed diplomatic outreach effort between Washington and Pyongyang.
The White House had secretly planned for Vice President Mike Pence, who led the U.S. delegation to the Winter Olympics last month in Pyeongchang, South Korea, to meet with the North Korean delegation on the sidelines, U.S. officials said later.
But the North called off the meeting after Pence said the Trump administration was planning to impose a harsh new set of economic sanctions.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, however, met with Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong Un, during the Olympics, and a delegation of senior South Korean officials visited Pyongyang on Monday.
The United States and South Korea have planned to resume their annual joint military drills soon after delaying them for the Games, a prospect that has led to speculation about whether the diplomatic goodwill would last. It's not yet clear if those exercises will be postponed again.
Some White House officials expressed concern Tuesday that North Korea may use any talks to buy time to develop a nuclear warhead that it could put atop a ballistic missile that can reach the continental United States, according to an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
Over the last three decades, North Korea has secretly lurched forward in its nuclear capabilities even during sporadic periods of engagement and diplomacy with the U.S. and other world powers.
The White House has not set denuclearization as a precondition for an initial round of talks — a shift from Trump's public position in recent months — but North Korea must agree to discuss giving up its nuclear program as part of any negotiations, the administration official said.
The Pentagon made clear it was skeptical of the North Korean offer.
Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley, Jr., who heads the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a previously scheduled Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday that Kim "shows no interest in walking away from his nuclear or his ballistic missile programs. Additional missile launches are a near certainty, and further nuclear tests are possible."
Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who chairs the committee, then asked Ashley about the possibility of successful talks with North Korea.
"I don't share your optimism," Ashley said. "We'll see how this plays out."
The tentative agreement announced Tuesday includes a pledge by both North and South Korea, still technically at war, to meet again in late April at the peace village known as Panmunjom along the border separating the nations.
The two nations also agreed to connect a communications hot line to avoid future military tensions, which have risen in recent years as the North pursued its nuclear and missile aims.
North and South Korea have been involved in several small-scale military clashes in recent years, including a 2015 land mine explosion and gunfire exchanges around the border, known as the Demilitarized Zone.
The North invited the South to send a cultural delegation to Pyongyang, the North's capital, as a sign of inter-Korean goodwill.
The agreement, released by Moon's office Tuesday night, said the two leaders would try to talk by phone before the next round of inter-Korean talks.
Trump had appeared to hint at a possible breakthrough in remarks Saturday. He said the North Koreans had "called up" and asked to begin talks, adding that he had responded that "you have to de-nuke."
"We will be meeting, and we'll see if anything positive happens," Trump said. He made the comments in a speech at the Gridiron dinner, an annual satirical event put on by members of the Washington press corps.
At the time, officials said Trump was referring to efforts by the South Koreans to get the North Koreans and the U.S. into talks, but said that nothing had yet been scheduled.
The announcement comes days after the close of the Winter Olympics. The sporting event helped prompt several diplomatic surprises, starting with the North Korean leader's conciliatory statement on New Year's Day.
Both sides agreed ahead of the Games to field a joint women's hockey squad — the first truly Korean team in Olympics history — and also to march together during the opening ceremony under a neutral unification flag.
The inter-Korean dialogue also allowed numerous other North Korean athletes to compete in the Games, and for the nation to send its cheerleaders as part of a charm offensive that included cultural exchanges.
The two Koreas have endured under an uneasy cease-fire since the Korean War ended in a stalemate in 1953.
The North, backed by communist powers like the Soviet Union and China, chose a totalitarian model, isolating itself from the world. The South, which embraced democracy in the late 1980s, has been a crucial ally to the United States and has the world's 11th-largest economy.
Times staff writers Brian Bennett and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
Stiles is a special correspondent.
Times staff writer Brian Bennett in the Washington bureau contributed to this story.
UPDATES:
7:55 a.m.: This article was updated with Pentagon reaction.
7:20 a.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction.
6:05 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details.
5:49 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details of the proposed deal and reaction from China.
This article was originally published at 4:35 a.m.
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