Mike Pence says US ready to talk with North Korea in policy shift

HONG KONG: The US is ready to engage in talks about North Korea’s nuclear programme even as it maintains pressure on Kim Jong Un’s regime, Vice President Mike Pence said, signalling a shift in American policy.

Pence and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in agreed to pursue dialogue with North Korea during conversations at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the Washington Post reported. Pence dubbed the new strategy “maximum pressure and engagement at the same time”.

“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearisation,” the Post quoted Pence as saying during an interview on his way home from South Korea. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.” When asked what exact steps North Korea would have to take to get sanctions relief, he said: “I don’t know.”


The comments represent a departure from the Trump administration’s previous stance that North Korea must first agree to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons before talks began. Pence endorsed a change of tactics after Moon assured him the North Koreans wouldn’t get economic or diplomatic benefits just for talking — they must take concrete steps toward denuclearisation.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said North Korea must show its sincerity. “They know what has to be on the table for conversations,” he told a news conference during a visit to Cairo. “We’re going to need to have some discussions that precede any form of negotiations, to determine whether the parties are in fact ready to engage in something that’s meaningful.”

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, led a charm offensive during the Games, inviting Moon for a summit in Pyongyang and asking him to play a “leading role” in reuniting the two Koreas after seven decades. A spokesperson for Moon’s office said that preconditions needed to be met before he accepted the invitation.