SEOUL – As it concludes its first high-level diplomatic tour of Asia on Thursday, Biden’s government is working with international allies in the region to stem the growing threat posed by North Korea’s ballistic missiles and nuclear capability.
But the country that has perhaps the best position to influence Pyongyang is one that President Biden has increasingly seen as an adversary: China.
After meetings this week in South Korea and Japan, the government faces a diplomatic stalemate of the kind that irritated former President Barack Obama and drove former President Donald J. Trump to express his love for Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, to declare. , in a manic but ultimately frustrated pursuit of a breakthrough.
North Korea continues to develop its weapons systems, and international officials have said its repressive domestic policies, which include surveillance, torture and prison camps, amount to human rights violations. Recent attempts by the Biden government to open a communications system have been rejected by North Korea, prompting it to call on its partners in the region to put pressure on Pyongyang.
“As far as North Korea is concerned, the most important issue and involvement is with our partners and allies. That’s a big part of why we’re here, “Foreign Minister Antony J. Blinken told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Lloyd J. Austin III in Seoul on Thursday in Seoul. spoke.
He said the Biden government was now consulting with the governments of South Korea, Japan and other allied countries “concerned about the actions and activities of North Korea.”
But China is the most important financial and political benefactor in North Korea, and Mr. Blinken acknowledged that Beijing has played a critical role in a diplomatic effort with Pyongyang. He suggested that China also be concerned about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
“China has a great interest in helping deal with this,” he said. Blinken said. “So we are looking at Beijing to play a role in the interest that I think everyone has.”
Whether the United States can recruit Beijing to participate will be clearer after talks later Thursday and Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, when China’s two leading diplomats with Mr. Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan meet. U.S. officials described the talks as a blunt exchange of policy opinions.
How to keep North Korea in check is among the issues being discussed in Anchorage. It is one of the few areas in which US officials believe they can cooperate with China as the Biden government continues to face Beijing’s military expansionism, the suppression of democracy and economic coercion in the Indo-Pacific region.
Mr. Blinken has previously described China as the “biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century”, and the Biden government has issued stern warnings and financial sanctions against Beijing, including Wednesday, in response to some of its actions.
“It is reasonable to try to gain China’s support, given its political and economic relationship with North Korea and its overall leverage in the region,” said Frank Aum, a North Korean expert at the US Institute for Peace in Washington. said.
But Mr. Aum also noted that China has no control over a series of demands North Korea has made in exchange for disarmament, including the lifting of U.S. sanctions and the termination of joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises.
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is eager for the United States to begin diplomatic talks with North Korea and other regional powers. He has repeatedly argued that a nuclear-free Korean peninsula is possible, and insisted that Mr. Kim is willing to give up his weapons and focus on economic growth if Washington offers the right incentives.
After meeting with U.S. delegates, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said he hoped for an “early resumption of dialogue” between the United States and North Korea, and that the government in Seoul will continue to support Washington’s efforts to establish diplomacy. contact Pyongyang.
He also suggested that Trump’s direct diplomatic approach provided ‘basic principles’ on how to bring about deprivation and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“Our experience over the past three years has shown that if North Korea continues to engage in close cooperation between South Korea and the United States, it can solve the core problem,” he said. Chung said.
It has been more than a year since North Korea spoke directly to US officials, Mr. Shining in Tokyo said. And the meetings in Seoul this week were the first between South Korean foreign and defense ministers and their US counterparts in five years.
The political stock of mr. Moon rose when he helped Mr. Bring Trump and Kim together for two summits. But after the second, in 2019, ended abruptly without an agreement on easing US sanctions or the pace of North Korea’s disarmament, Mr. Moon struggled to regain its relevance in the negotiations. Last June, North Korea blew up the joint inter-Korean liaison office on its side of the border, the first of a series of actions that threatened to stem a fragile turnover.
“North Korean officials will reject Washington’s efforts to engage in dialogue unless the United States withholds its hostile policies,” Choe Son-hui, the country’s first deputy foreign minister, said on Thursday. . “That is why we will in the future also disregard such an attempt by the USA.”
Me. Choe cited military exercises the United States was holding with South Korea and spoke in Washington of imposing more sanctions on the North as examples of hostility. In a diatribe issued hours after senior U.S. delegates landed in Tokyo earlier this week, North Korea warned Biden’s government not to “cause a stink.”
North Korea has not yet conducted any weapons tests since it launched short-range missiles in March last year. But during a military parade in October, it unveiled a new, untested intercontinental ballistic missile that looked bigger and more powerful than the ICBM it tested in late 2017 before Mr. Kim with diplomacy with mr. Trump started.
At a party meeting in January, Kim promised to further advance his country’s nuclear capabilities and stated that he would build new ICBMs for solid fuel and make their nuclear warheads lighter and more precise.
Pyongyang described this week’s travels by Mr. Blinken and mr. Austin to Tokyo and Seoul closely watched for clues on Biden’s government approach. North Korea is expected to decide to resume arms tests after tracking Washington and create a new tension cycle to gain leverage.
Mr Blinken said the US stance on North Korea would include a mix of local pressure options and the potential for future diplomacy if the Biden government’s current policy review was completed by next month.
Mr. Aum, the North Korean expert on the US Institute for Peace, said the policy could include forcing China to do more to contain North Korea, possibly by using additional weapons systems in the region or major military exercises. with South Korea – both would irritate Beijing.
China has largely urged North Korea and the United States to resolve the deadlock themselves, although they have called for sanctions easing and a hiatus from U.S. military exercises with Seoul in exchange for Pyongyang freezing its nuclear and missile tests.
“All parties must work together to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said this week. “China will continue to play a constructive role in this process.”
Steven Lee Myers and John Ismay reported from Seoul contributed.