{"id":20428,"date":"2017-08-11T15:36:03","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T15:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/11\/beyond-bluster-us-and-north-korea-are-in-regular-contact\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:15:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:15:24","slug":"beyond-bluster-us-and-north-korea-are-in-regular-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/11\/beyond-bluster-us-and-north-korea-are-in-regular-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond bluster, US and North Korea are in regular contact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Beyond the bluster, the Trump administration has been quietly engaged in back channel diplomacy with North Korea for several months, addressing Americans imprisoned in the communist country and deteriorating relations between the long-time foes, The Associated Press has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had been known the two sides had discussions to secure the June release of an American university student. But it wasn\u2019t known until now that the contacts have continued, or that they have broached matters other than U.S. detainees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People familiar with the contacts say the interactions have done nothing thus far to quell tensions over North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons and missile advances, which are now fueling fears of military confrontation. But they say the behind-the-scenes discussions could still be a foundation for more serious negotiation, including on North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons, should President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un put aside the bellicose rhetoric of recent days and endorse a dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contacts are occurring regularly between Joseph Yun, the U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, and Pak Song Il, a senior North Korean diplomat at the country\u2019s U.N. mission, according to U.S. officials and others briefed on the process. They weren\u2019t authorized to discuss the confidential exchanges and spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials call it the \u201cNew York channel.\u201d Yun is the only U.S. diplomat in contact with any North Korean counterpart. The communications largely serve as a way to exchange messages, allowing Washington and Pyongyang to relay information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drowned out by the furor over Trump\u2019s warning to North Korea of \u201cfire and fury like the world has never seen,\u201d Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has expressed a willingness to entertain negotiations. His condition: Pyongyang stopping tests of missiles that can now potentially reach the U.S. mainland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tillerson has even hinted at an ongoing back channel. \u201cWe have other means of communication open to them, to certainly hear from them if they have a desire to want to talk,\u201d he said at an Asian security meeting in the Philippines this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interactions could point to a level of pragmatism in the Trump administration\u2019s approach to the North Korean threat, despite the president\u2019s dire warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, he tweeted: \u201cMilitary solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.\u201d But on Thursday, he said, \u201cwe\u2019ll always consider negotiations,\u201d even if they haven\u2019t worked in the last quarter-century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contacts suggest Pyongyang, too, may be open to a negotiation even as it talks of launching missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam. The North regularly threatens nuclear strikes on the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Department didn\u2019t immediately comment on Yun\u2019s diplomacy. The White House also had no comment. A diplomat at North Korea\u2019s U.N. mission only confirmed use of diplomatic channel up to the release of U.S. college student Otto Warmbier two months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, in some ways, has been more flexible in his approach to North Korea than President Barack Obama. While variations of the New York channel have been used on-and-off for years by past administrations, there were no discussions over the last seven months of Obama\u2019s presidency after Pyongyang broke them off in anger over U.S. sanctions imposed on its leader, Kim. Obama made little effort to reopen lines of communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contacts quickly restarted after Trump\u2019s inauguration, other people familiar with the discussions say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cContrary to the public vitriol of the moment, the North Koreans were willing to reopen the New York channel following the election of President Trump and his administration signaled an openness to engage and \u2018talk about talks,\u2019\u201d said Keith Luse, executive director of the National Committee on North Korea, a U.S.-based group that promotes U.S.-North Korean engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, the massive trust deficit in Pyongyang and in Washington toward each other has impeded the confidence-building process necessary to have constructive dialogue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early U.S. focus was on securing the release of several Americans held in North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Visitors look through binoculars towards North Korea from a South Korean observation post in Paju near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing two Koreas on August 11, 2017.\n(Jung Yeon-Je\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They included Warmbier, who was imprisoned for stealing a propaganda poster and only allowed to return to the U.S. in June \u2014 in an unconscious state. He died days later. Yun traveled on the widely publicized mission to Pyongyang to bring Warmbier home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite outrage in the U.S. with Warmbier\u2019s treatment and sharp condemnation by Trump, the U.S.-North Korean interactions in New York continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yun and his counterpart have discussed the other Americans still being held. They include Kim Hak Song, a university employee detained in May accused of unspecified \u201chostile\u201d acts; Tony Kim, a teacher at the same school, accused of trying to overthrow the government; and Kim Dong Chul, sentenced last year to a decade in prison with hard labor for supposed espionage.<\/p>\n\n\n\t