SEOUL: North Korea wants to reopen nuclear talks with the United States if Donald Trump is re-elected as president and is working to devise a new negotiating strategy, a senior North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea told Reuters.
The escape of Ri Il Gyu from Cuba made headlines globally last month. He was the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to defect to the South since 2016.
In his first interview with international media, Ri said North Korea has set Russia, the US and Japan as its top foreign policy priorities for this year and beyond.
While bolstering relations with Russia, Pyongyang was keen to reopen nuclear negotiations if Trump – who engaged in both fiery brinkmanship and unprecedented diplomacy with North Korea during his previous term – won re-election in November, Ri said.
Pyongyang’s diplomats were mapping out a strategy for that scenario, with the goal of lifting sanctions on its weapons programmes, removing its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and eliciting economic aid, said Ri.
His comments signal a potential about-face from the North’s current stance after recent statements ditching the possibility of dialogue with the US and warning of armed confrontation.
A summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump in Vietnam in 2019 collapsed over sanctions, for which Ri partly blamed Kim’s decision to entrust “inexperienced, clueless” military commanders with nuclear diplomacy.
“Kim Jong Un doesn’t know much about international relations and diplomacy, or how to make strategic judgments,” he said.
“This time, the foreign ministry would definitely gain power and take charge, and it won’t be so easy for Trump to tie North Korea’s hands and feet again for four years without giving anything.”
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