Pressure mounts on US, South Korea with IAEA report on North reactor
Frank Smith
Press TV, Seoul
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggests North Korea has restarted its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, the source of fissile material for its nuclear weapons. Pyongyang’s move comes as the US says it is willing to negotiate with North Korea. But Washington’s offer of talks rings hollow, say experts in Seoul at a large online government forum to encourage cooperation with North Korea.
North Korea has not accepted US President Biden’s administration’s offer of talks because Pyongyang would like to see an end to what it views as a hostile US policy toward it.
In particular, Pyongyang bristles at the US-lead United Nations Security Council sanctions which restrain North Korea’s international trade and the periodic military exercises involving some 28,500 US troops in South Korea. Experts at this week’s Korea Global Forum for Peace argue Washington needs to do more.
The previous summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former US President Donald Trump gained headlines but changed little.
With the dispatch of his North Korea nuclear envoy to the US this week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in clearly recognizes time is not on his side, with a presidential election here slated to replace him next March. But for Biden, the North Korean issue confronts a crowded agenda, with Washington’s recent Afghanistan withdrawal and struggles with the ongoing surge in US Covid-19 cases.
Still the South Korean president seems determined to bring the US and North Korea closer to the negotiating table.
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