North Korea overtakes Biden administration

North Korea has not responded to North Korea’s diplomatic outreach since mid-February by North Korean President Jo Biden’s administration, which includes Pyongyang’s mission at the United Nations, a senior Biden administration reported Reuters On 13 March.

The revelation of the so-called failed US outreach, which has not been previously reported, raises questions about how Mr Biden will address growing tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

It also adds a new dimension to the visit of America’s top diplomat and the Secretary of Defense will next week for South Korea and Japan, where concerns over North Korea’s nuclear arsenal are expected to be high on the agenda.

The senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered some details on the diplomatic push. But the official said the attempt was made to reach the North Korean government “through several channels starting in mid-February, including New York.”

“To date, we have not received any response from Pyongyang,” the official said.

North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Biden administration has so far been cautious in publicly describing its approach to North Korea, saying it was conducting a comprehensive policy review following former Korean President Donald Trump’s unprecedented engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is.

Mr. Trump’s efforts failed to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

The Biden administration official said that it appeared that there had been no active dialogue between the United States and North Korea for more than a year, including at the end of Trump’s administration, “to engage by the United States at that time.” Despite many efforts during “.

The US official refused to speculate on how Pyongyang’s silence would affect the Biden administration’s North Korea policy review, which was expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

During his election campaign, Mr. Biden described Mr. Kim as a “thug” and said he would meet him only “on condition that he agree that he would be pulling down his nuclear capability” .

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has excluded the possibility of additional sanctions, in coordination with the allies, to suppress North Korea nuclear.

Sanctions have so far failed to convince Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.

Mr. Blinken is slated to host a face-to-face discussion between senior Biden administration and Chinese officials on March 18 in Alaska. The Trump administration accused China of failing to enforce sanctions against North Korea. A confidential UN report found here that North Korea, in violation of international sanctions, maintained its nuclear and ballistic missile programs until 2020 and helped fund them with $ 300 million stolen through cyber hacks .

The report of the monitoring of independent sanctions stated that Pyongyang “produced phyzile material, maintained nuclear facilities and advanced its ballistic missile infrastructure while continuing to seek materials and technology for those programs from abroad”.