For those eager to see North Korea resume formal talks toward establishing more stability in Asia, there have been signs, recently, of promise. Last week, Ambassador Sin Son-ho, the DPRK's top representative to the United Nations, told the Yonhap News Agency that North Korea stands ready to rejoin six-party talks that have been stalled since December 2008.
On the same day, North Korea made a new overture for cross-border family reunions, which haven't taken place since 2010. And North Korea has said it wants to back away from its heated rhetoric and improve its relations with South Korea.
But those overtures have done little to sway the U.S., which sees the situation as largely unchanged. All of which suggests a breakthrough remains unlikely.
The reason? The chief obstacle to talks is as immovable as it always has been: the U.S. wants North Korea to "meaningfully address" denuclearization – and North Korea hasn't shown any willingness to do so.
"What they've said are things like that they are interested in coming back to talks without preconditions. That means they'd like to talk about everything except their obligations to denuclearize. So this is of great concern to us," Glyn Davies, the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, told reporters in Beijing Tuesday.
Mr. Davies, in China as part of a broader visit that will also include stops in Seoul and Tokyo, offered little hint of conciliation with Pyongyang. Instead, he suggested the U.S. is prepared to try new steps to force North Korea's hand into dismantling its nuclear weapons abilities.
"Certainly the focus of my meetings has been on the situation in North Korea, and how best to seek to move North Korea – convince North Korea, if necessary to put pressure on North Korea – to come back to meaningful, authentic, and credible discussions of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Mr. Davies said.
In other words, from the U.S. perspective not much has changed.
China, meanwhile, echoed the need for North Korea to address the U.S. priorities.
"Concerns of all parties should be taken into account in a balanced manner, mutual trust should be enhanced and relevant issues should be properly resolved. All relevant parties should bear in mind denuclearization, peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang said on Monday.
Recent history hasn't offered much reason for optimism on the six-party talks, either. On December 6, 2012, for example, Russia noted a lull in hostilities from North Korea following the death of Kim Jong-Il, which it took as a hopeful sign that discussions could resume. "At the moment we do not have any reasons to expect additional challenges," Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said then. Six days later, North Korea launched a long-range rocket, an opening salvo in a months-long escalation of tensions that included an underground nuclear warhead test and the firing of four short-range missiles.
North Korea sees its nuclear program as critical to defending itself against more powerful interests like the U.S. Inside Pyongyang, fears date back to the early 1950s, when U.S. leaders – including General Douglas MacArthur and former president Harry Truman – openly discussed the possibility of using atomic force to "destroy North Korea."
Much has, of course, changed since then – including what is now a reasonably united effort by China and the U.S. to eliminate the North Korean nuclear threat.
Mr. Davies travels to China several times a year; his last trip came in November. This time he visited officials at the Chinese foreign ministry, as well as Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui. Mr. Davies has sought "to see if we and the Chinese can deepen our already very good collaboration on this issue," he said.
He offered little comment on the U.S. view of what is happening inside North Korea, following unconfirmed reports this week that relatives of Jang Song Thaek, the purged uncle of dictator Kim Jong Un, have also been put to death. Mr. Jang, once a pivotal adviser to Mr. Kim and the second most powerful man in Pyongyang, was subsequently called "human scum" and "worse than a dog" by official North Korean media after his execution in December. His image was deleted from historical pictures.
The killings "demonstrate I think with some clarity the nature of the North Korean regime," Mr. Davies said.
Nathan VanderKlippe