The North Korean authorities have reportedly ordered the strengthening of protectionist measures surrounding the Yongbyon nuclear facilities following the meeting in early March between Kim Jong Un and a team of South Korean special envoys in Pyongyang.
It appears that the authorities are attempting to prevent information leaks pertaining to activities inside the Yongbyon nuclear complex located in North Pyongan Province, which has been the site of the country’s plutonium production in the past.
In a March 20 conversation with Daily NK, a Pyongyang-based source provided details of a March 9 emergency meeting between Party Headquarters and State Security cadres. “They were told to greatly strengthen protection of the Yongbyon nuclear complex and to completely shut off the area from the outside,” he said, adding that high expectations for secrecy for those involved were expressed during the meeting.
The assignment was referred to as “Policy No. 89” and included both an emphasis on achieving “nuclear legitimacy” and a resolve to “never give up” the country’s nuclear capabilities.
The March 9 date of the order calls into question Kim Jong Un’s message of supposed commitment to denuclearization as delivered by South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Hwa on March 18. US and South Korean officials throughout the month have been stressing denuclearization while gearing up for top-level summits with the North Korean leader. Meanwhile, it appears that the North Koreans have been working to institute protective measures for their nuclear program.
“During the emergency meeting, the authorities emphasized their ‘legitimacy as a nuclear nation,’ the ‘Byungjin line’ (simultaneous nuclear and economic development), and ‘that the way the US, South Korea, and the international community are now kneeling before us is sufficient proof that the Great Leader’s nuclear priority is the proper way,’” the source said.
These statements contradict Kim Jong Un’s assurances given to the South Korean special envoy in Pyongyang that his “forefathers (previous Kim leaders) dictated the goal of (eventual) denuclearization” – implying that denuclearization is the destiny of the nation.
A separate source in Pyongyang familiar with the development said, “The language is meant to stir memories of ‘the atrocities of the allied imperial forces’ and inspire faith in their nuclear capabilities as ‘the last line of defense’ against the enemy.”
He added that the meeting also included instructions from Kim Jong Un to “utilize aggressive diversion tactics to overcome the current crisis” and that “protecting the Yongbyon nuclear complex is more important now than ever.”
With North Korea’s apparent internal priority on maintaining its nuclear capabilities and outward desire to move from “conflict” to “conversation” with the US, keeping a tight lid on all activities at the Yongbyon nuclear complex will be of utmost importance to the authorities.
This “Policy No. 89” can also be read as instructions to prepare the Yongbyon facilities for any potential future inspections. Knowing that talks may lead to an agreement over denuclearization or a nuclear freeze, the North may be laying the groundwork at Yongbyon for a dramatic demonstration of their supposed compliance.
In late June of 2008, North Korea followed a similar strategy with the destruction of a nuclear reactor tower at Yongbyon to demonstrate their progress in shutting down their nuclear development. However, the North changed their tune several months later in September when they signalled the restarting of activities at Yongbyon. Then in April and May of 2009, North Korea conducted a long-range missile test and its second nuclear bomb test, again raising doubts over the sincerity of the initial reactor tower demolition.
Meanwhile, North Korean Party officials from the provincial to the county level received orders on March 3 to make preparations for lectures targeting the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League over “strengthening the nation’s status as a nuclear power” to be carried out later this month.
