Bid on North Korea: Fewer summits, stricter sanctions, same standoff

SEOUL / WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) – No more “Little Rocket Man” expanding love letters as pagans.

If Joe Biden is elected President of the United States, North Korea’s policies will likely place less emphasis on personal relations with leader Kim Jong Un, and more focus on allies and diplomacy at work level, campaign advisers and former officials say.

President Donald Trump has said he will make “very quick” agreements with North Korea if re-elected on Nov. 3.

However, Pyongyang officials have said that while Kim still has a good relationship with Trump, they should look forward to a time when Trump is not president.

Last year, North Korea pulled out to Biden, calling him a “dog dog” who should be “killed” for comments seen as contemptuous of Kim.

Biden, who has a solid lead in most opinion polls, cited those threats in January when he said he would not meet with Kim unless unspecified conditions were met.

After months of threats and insults from the trade – Kim was “Little Rocket Man” and Trump an “escaped American dotard” – Trump became the first incumbent US president to meet with a North Korean leader when he top with Kim in Singapore hold.

The two leaders met twice more, exchanging what Trump called “nice letters,” but failed to resolve a standoff over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

“There is no doubt that the era of love letters will be over,” one Biden policy adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Biden told The New York Times that he would not pursue personal diplomacy with Kim, calling the meetings a “vanity project” that should only happen if coupled with “an actual strategy that brings the ball forward on denuclearization.”

“ALLIES AND PARTNERS”

Biden would not open the door to diplomacy, but instead “empower negotiators and implement a sustained and coordinated effort with allies and partners” to pressure and encourage North Korea to deny, while also addressing the abuse of human rights in a way that has been lacking in current US policy, Biden’s adviser said.

Biden was vice-president under Barack Obama, and some parts of his policy would likely be likened to “strategic patience” of Obama, who sought to isolate North Korea and offer no diplomatic rewards for his provocations.

“Many advisers in Biden’s campaign are part of the ‘strategic patience’ team, which is pro-alliance and takes orthodox approaches to foreign policy, including North Korea’s policies,” said Chang Ho-jin, a former South Korean Secretary of State for Foreign Policy who worked with several of Biden’s assistants.

“North Korea should not be afraid of unpredictable military action because Trump is running, but would probably suffer from tighter screws.”

Biden’s commitment to work more closely with allies may be complicated by pressure from South Korean President Moon Jae-in for more involvement with North Korea and looser sanctions, while downplaying human rights issues.

“That could make a deal with Seoul,” said James Kim, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

A PROVOCATION OF PYONGYANG?

Kim has also made significant progress in advancing his military capabilities since Biden took office, successfully testing North Korea’s largest nuclear bomb and missile capable of hitting anywhere in the United States.

The U.S. Arms Control Commission is likely to have a strong voice in a Biden administration and will argue that it is time to accept the idea that North Korea is now a nuclear power, said Evans Revere, a former U.S. negotiator with North Korea.

But that approach would effectively serve North Korea’s long-term goal of cementing its nuclear status, and a Biden presidency will almost certainly take a tougher-nosed approach, likely repaid by Pyongyang’s pushy, Revere said.

“If Biden wins in November, we can expect North Korea to take a dramatic step later this year, possibly by conducting a nuclear or ICBM test, to warn the new administration away from this path,” he said. hy.

The Biden adviser declined to elaborate on what Biden could do if North Korea returns to nuclear or ICBM testing.

Jung Pak, a former CIA analyst who now works at the Brookings Institution and provides informal advice to the Biden campaign, said any North Korean provocation could be used by a new administration.

“A nuclear or ICBM test by North Korea would provide an opportunity for the new administration to highlight the threat posed by the Kim regime and seek to build some consensus or agreement with our allies on a coherent North Korea policy,” she said, noting that she was not speaking for Biden’s campaign.

“That is, do not let a good crisis get in the way.”