Yoon's NK initiative hits snag as Pyongyang legalizes nuke weapons

A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech during a parliamentary session in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday. Yonhap

Kim Jong-un aims to win recognition as 'nuclear state' through legislation: experts

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk-yeol's recently introduced "audacious initiative," aimed at enticing North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons, seems to have already hit a snag as Pyongyang has guaranteed the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes in its new law.

Experts believe that North Korea's legislation has to do with its efforts to win international recognition as a "nuclear state" while South Korea's current denuclearization-based overture may require a change in tempo.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that the Supreme People's Assembly, the regime's rubber-stamp parliament, passed a new law that will enable Pyongyang to automatically launch a nuclear strike if attacked. This replaced a 2013 law which first outlined the North's nuclear status.

"The status of our country as a nuclear weapons state has become irreversible," KCNA quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying. "(We will) never give up nuclear weapons and there is absolutely no denuclearization, and no negotiation and no bargaining chip to trade in the process."

This deals a hefty blow to the South Korean president's plan, dubbed "audacious initiative," to entice North Korea's denuclearization with economic aid.

Last month, Yoon proposed an aid plan that would include food, energy, trade infrastructure, agricultural technologies, medical infrastructure and financial support programs, in exchange for North Korea's return to denuclearization talks.

If that happens, the presidential office has said denuclearization talks and economic support will be pursued simultaneously, saying the South Korean government "will consider providing aid in the infant stage of talks if the North shows its sincerity."

President Yoon Suk-yeol delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the 77th anniversary of National Liberation Day at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Aug. 15. During his speech, Yoon proposed economic aid to entice North Korea's denuclearization. Joint Press Corps

As the North dashed Yoon's proposal with the new law, experts said that South Korea may consider changing its entire North Korea policy.

"The North's legislation of its right to use nuclear weapons can be seen as a direct refusal to Yoon's audacious initiative," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies. "Yoon may not be able to bring a drastic change to his initiative because it was an announcement of South Korea's North Korea policy direction to not only North Korea but also the entire world. Instead, he should consider controlling the pace of his policies."

Yang said Yoon's initiative has been a paradox from the beginning, because the South Korean leader has been maintaining a hawkish stance on the North, stressing the importance of deterrence against Pyongyang's missile threats and even mentioning preemptive strikes on the regime during his election campaign. Against this backdrop, Yoon should seek a balance in his North Korea approach, blending peace overtures into his conservative strategy, experts said.

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said that the North has sent a message that it will no longer deal with the denuclearization-based approach of Seoul and Washington, and the two countries may consider a "flexible approach such as lowering their requirements for the North or engaging in arms reduction talks."

"Even though Yoon's requirements (of the North showing its sincerity for denuclearization) were easier for the North to accept compared to that of his conservative predecessors, the regime clearly showed that it does not have any intention of denuclearization," Hong said. "Given that Yoon cannot abandon the ultimate goal of denuclearization, he can think of lowering the requirements further, such as changing the concept to reciprocal security."

Hong cited arms reduction talks as a realistic option that Seoul and Washington can pursue for reciprocal security.

"Arms reduction or arms control is a broader concept of denuclearization," Hong said. "Though it is difficult for the South to acknowledge the North as a nuclear state due to political reasons, the regime's fast pace of developing nuclear weapons is increasing the necessity of considering ways to control or reduce existing nuclear weapons."