Despite Kim Jong Un expressing a desire to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and get back on track in normalizing relations between South Korea and the United States, sources inside North Korea report that a directive has been issued to high-level officials to remain firm in their resolve to possess nuclear weapons.
This contradicts comments made during the meeting on March 5 between Kim Jong Un and President Moon’s special North Korean delegation when the North Korean leader reportedly said,“It is the wishes of our ancestors for us to succeed in denuclearization.”
A high-level source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on March 19 that a directive was handed down to carry out lectures in March targeting the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League focusing on how North Korea needs to “strengthen its position as a nuclear power”.
The directive was issued on March 3, immediately before the special envoy arrived in North Korea. Accordingly, the fact that Kim Jong Un has been using “denuclearization” prior to the meeting to bring the US and South Korea to the discussion table, while simultaneously promulgating strength as a nuclear power inside North Korea, raises questions about the country’s willingness to divest itself of its nuclear weapons. The six-point statement released by the South Korean envoys outlining their meeting with Kim Jong Un stated that such a goal could be achieved if “the military threats to the North are eliminated and the regime’s security is guaranteed.”
“There has been a specific order to use the visit as propaganda emphasizing that South Korea has raised the white flag by visiting us, giving credence to our path as we transition to becoming a nuclear power, a moment to be remembered in history as a great victory,” the source said.
The visit by the special delegation was reported in the Party-run publication Rodong Sinmun, but only focused on the fact that there was a meeting between the delegation and Kim Jong Un and a special banquet, conspicuously omitting any mention of denuclearization.
Indeed, Rodong Sinmun published an article on March 6 entitled “We have to put an end to the history of US nuclear crimes against humanity,” which argued that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are necessary to “put an end to America’s flagrant history of nuclear terrorism.”
“The longer the tyranny of America’s nuclear threats continue,” the article added, “the more resolute our military and citizens need to be towards the goal of becoming a nuclear power and protecting peace on the Korean peninsula”.
In stark contrast to the meeting between Kim and the special delegation, where it was stated that North Korea’s “ancestors wished for denuclearization,” a separate source in Pyongyang described the political lectures targeting cadres as a space to push forward the notion that nuclear power is a way to commemorate the Kim family, noting that the country’s nuclear capability was “made possible by the Generalissimo Kim Il Sung.”
Likewise, the source added, it appears that the regime will likely use recent meetings and interactions between the two Koreas, driven by North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics, as political teaching materials for the North Korean people.
“North Korea is using the visits of the North Korean delegation to the South, including individuals such as Kim Yo Jong (Kim Jong Un’s sister), and the visit of the South Korean delegation in the North to create a video called ‘Honor the Great Leader’, which is set to be used during speeches to the Party, military, and ordinary residents,” he said.
