Despite Sanctions, North Korea is Still Waiting to Talk

North Korea has announced they are willing to reopen diplomacy with the United States and South Korea, following the successful relations between North and South Korea in the 2018 Olympics. However, the diplomacy comes at a cost, as the country is unwilling to discontinue its nuclear program.

This may be an issue for the President, who imposed more severe sanctions on North Korea on Friday the 23, in an attempt to hinder their nuclear program.   However, the White House is interested in resuming diplomacy as well, Vice President Mike Pence revealed.

“No pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization,” Pence told The Washington Post. “So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”

The United States is not the first to impose harsher measures on North Korea in the last few months. The United Nations tightened sanctions on the country in December in response to North Korea’s test of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. South Korea followed with measures of its own, and on Tuesday the European Union announced it would follow suit with “laws to strengthen restrictive measures against North Korea.”

President Donald Trump stated on the 23 that the sanctions against North Korea were “the heaviest ever” imposed by the United States. He also warned that measures would continue to become more severe if the nation refused to back down on its missile productions program.

A “phase two” is apparently planned if North Korea fails to respond to the call to denuclearize, which could lead to a catastrophic second Korean War.   “Phase two may be a very rough thing, may be very unfortunate for the world,” Trump told reporters from the White House.

North Korea says it has “ample intentions of holding talks,” but condemns the sanctions as an attempt by the United States to undermine relations between North and South Korea. “The two Koreas have collaborated together and the Olympics was held successfully,” the North stated on Sunday. “But the United States brought the threat of war to the Korean peninsula with large-scale new sanctions.”

North Korea has continued their nuclear program in the last few months despite condemnation from the international community. The regime has vowed to continue the program in what it views as a defensive move against hostile Washington policies.

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump suggested a major shift in policy, saying he would talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump repeated in January that he would like to hold direct talks with Kim, but that North Korea needs to end weapons testing first.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was confident the sides would reach the negotiation table, but that it was up to North Korea to decide when it was willing to engage in serious discussion. “They know what has to be on the table for conversations,” he said.