North Korea shuts door on US talks, raising risk of provocations

SEOUL – North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the door remains shut for talks with the United States on winding down its atomic arsenal, setting the stage for renewed provocations by

pledging to respond to what it saw as threats from Washington.

“The DPRK is not interested in any contact or dialogue with the US as long as it pursues its hostile policy and confrontational line,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday, citing a ministry spokesman as saying and referring to the country by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Statements from the ministry are among North Korea’s highest form of communication with the outside world. The last time one came out in December,

Pyongyang test-launched two short-range ballistic missiles

about a day later.

The comments from the spokesman come in the wake of a visit by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet his counterpart in South Korea, where the nations announced plans to expand joint drills.

“This is a vivid expression of the US dangerous scenario which will result in turning the Korean Peninsula into a huge war arsenal and a more critical war zone,” KCNA cited the spokesman it did not identify as saying. “The more dangerous the US threat to the DPRK gets, the stronger backfire the US will face in direct proportion to it.”

After firing off a record number of ballistic missiles in 2022, the North Korean regime has had a relatively quiet start to 2023,

testing one ballistic missile on Jan 1 just hours into the new year.

The state has two major events on its calendar in February that might be used to coincide with a show of force – the Feb 8 anniversary of the foundation of the army and its Feb 16 Day of the Shining Star to mark the birthday of deceased leader Kim Jong Il.

The US and South Korea staged a joint air exercise on Wednesday that included a B-1B strategic bomber, and F-22 and F-35B stealth fighters, the Defence Ministry in Seoul said.

“The drills were to show US’ will and capabilities to provide strong and credible extended deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” the ministry said in a statement.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May, brought back joint military exercises with his country’s US ally. The drills had been scaled down or halted under former president Donald Trump, who was hoping the move would facilitate his nuclear negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Mr Trump’s three meetings with Mr Kim from 2018 led to no concrete steps to wind down Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, which only grew in strength and size as the in-person diplomacy eventually fizzled.

The US and South Korea plan to hold tabletop exercises in February that will include plans to look at responses to a nuclear attack by North Korea. One of their biggest joint drills may take place in the coming months in the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercises, which had often been held in the spring until they were halted under Mr Trump. The drills have involved military training on land, sea and air by US and South Korean military personnel.

South Korea also plans to test a new “high-power” ballistic missile this week that is designed to hit targets in North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a source it did not identify. Pyongyang has often responded to such tests by its neighbour by firing off missiles of its own.

North Korea in 2022 changed the way it responds to joint drills by staging provocations shortly after the event’s start. Mr Kim also pledged in a new year address to exponentially increase his state’s nuclear arsenal to thwart what he saw as hostilities from the US and South Korea.

The US, South Korea and Japan have said for months that North Korea could soon conduct a nuclear weapons test,

pledging a stern and coordinated response

to a move that would be in violation of United Nations resolutions. BLOOMBERG