North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Signals Willingness to Resume Nuclear Talks

Administration officials reached out to Pyongyang early in Mr. Biden’s presidency to gauge the possibility of resuming negotiations. The U.S. leader has said he is open to diplomacy with North Korea, but Mr. Kim’s regime hadn’t yet responded in a meaningful way, U.S. officials have said.

“It had seemed like North Korea was keeping the door to diplomacy very close to shut,” said Wi Sung-lac, a former nuclear envoy for Seoul who has participated in negotiations with the Kim regime. “It now looks like the North Koreans have slightly opened the door, though not by a lot.”

The Biden administration conducted a policy review on North Korea, which it said in April had been completed. Since then, U.S. officials have said they would continue pressuring Mr. Kim to give up his entire nuclear arsenal, but wouldn’t seek a grand bargain as former President

Donald Trump

had.

“You know, we closely studied what others have tried, and—what worked and what hasn’t worked,” Mr. Biden told reporters last month after a summit with South Korean President

Moon Jae-in.

“And, you know, we’re under no illusions how difficult this is, none whatsoever.”

Mr. Trump met with Mr. Kim three times. Those interactions didn’t push Mr. Kim closer to denuclearization, with Pyongyang expanding its nuclear weapons program during the latter half of Mr. Trump’s term.

Mr. Kim’s remarks this week mean that he is done conducting his own policy review on the U.S., said S. Paul Choi, the managing director of StratWays Group, a geopolitical risk consulting firm in Seoul. “North Korea is now done stretching,” he said.

Mr. Kim will likely be aiming at a potential short-term deal with the U.S., with Pyongyang partially dismantling its nuclear arsenal in return for diplomatic or economic concessions from Washington, security experts say.

Both sides have something to gain from a short-term agreement, said Chun Seong-whun, a former Seoul national-security official. The U.S. can cap or lower the threat posed by Mr. Kim’s nukes, while North Korea can earn breathing space for its struggling economy through sanctions relief or humanitarian aid, Mr. Chun said.

“The problem is that North Korea will run away with that deal, ignoring U.S. demands for new negotiations aimed at reaching a longer-term, complete denuclearization agreement,” he said. “Making compromises is a Western concept. North Korea has long exploited that.”

Sung Kim, Mr. Biden’s newly named North Korea envoy and former U.S. ambassador to Seoul, is scheduled to visit South Korea this weekend. He is to meet with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts while in the region, according to the State Department.

Write to Andrew Jeong at [email protected]