The Washington Post - 16.11.2019

A20 EZ RE the washington post.saturday, november 16 , 2019

it,” he said. “So we always have to

remain flexible in terms of how

we support our diplomats to

ensure that we do not close any

doors that may allow forward

progress on the diplomatic

front.”

The remarks signaled Wash-

ington’s desire to not let the

faltering dialogue process with

North Korea blow completely off

course, while making clear that

the United States is not prepared

to sacrifice military readiness for

the sake of resuming talks.

Similar comments from Esper

en route to South Korea were

greeted cautiously by North Ko-

rea, which countered with a de-

mand for a cancellation of the

upcoming exercise.

“I would like to understand it

as the U.S. intention to drop out

of the joint military drill or

completely stop it,” Kim Yong

Chol, a senior North Korean offi-

cial, said in a statement.

“I would like to believe that the

remark of the U.S. Secretary of

Defense reflected the intention of

President Trump, and appreciate

it as part of positive efforts of the

U.S. side to preserve the motive

force of the DPRK-U.S. negotia-

tions,” he said, referring to the

country’s official name, the Dem-

ocratic People’s Republic of Ko-

rea.

He t hen delivered a sting in the

tail, saying that if the United

States goes ahead with a “hostile

provocation,” then Pyongyang

“will be compelled to answer

with shocking punishment that

would be difficult for the U.S. to

cope with.”

North Korea has given the

United States until the end of the

year to come up with a new

approach to denuclearization

talks, and it threatened this week

to reverse an earlier decision to

end nuclear and intercontinental

ballistic missile tests.

It says it feels “betrayed” be-

cause Trump did not follow

through on a promise to end joint

exercises with South Korea in

return for a halt to Pyongyang’s

long-range weapons tests.

The United States says North

Korea has not taken meaningful

steps to dismantle its nuclear

weapons program and has done

nothing to justify offering the

sanctions relief the Kim Jong Un

regime wants.

Ta lks between the two sides in

Stockholm broke down last

month, and U.S. and Swedish

efforts to revive the dialogue have

so far failed.

[email protected]

Min Joo Kim contributed to this

report.

BY SIMON DENYER

SEOUL — The United States will
consider changing plans to con-
duct joint military exercises with
South Korea if that helps support
diplomatic efforts to restart a
dialogue with North Korea, De-
fense Secretary Mark T. Esper
said Friday.
But Esper stopped short of
canceling a planned joint air
drill, as North Korea has de-

manded.

Exercises are meant to ensure

the readiness of U.S. and South

Korean forces “to deter and, if

necessary, defeat our adversar-

ies,” Esper said, speaking along-

side South Korean Defense Min-

ister Jeong Kyeong-doo after a

meeting in Seoul.

“The purpose of our armed

forces and our exercises is not

only to buttress our diplomacy,

but to also enable and empower

U.S. ‘flexible’ on military

exercises with South Korea

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