Considering that North Korea and the United States do not have diplomatic ties to treat political issues, the UN channel refers to a method for North Korea’s U.N. diplomats to communicate with USA diplomats in NY. While the US often uses European officials as mediators to discuss the liberation of USA captives, its NY office was also a main resource in communicating with Pyongyang.
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Pyongyang was also angered by moves by the US and South Korea to deploy the advanced THAAD missile defence system on the Korean peninsula.
On 38 North, a Johns Hopkins University website dedicated to North Korea issues, analyst Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., writes that “high-level” activity at the site in an area where Pyongyang conducted 2013 and 2016 nuclear tests could be seen.
Kumar said he did not think the prisoners would be affected in other significant ways. The channel has been an intermittent point of mediation for both who remain technically at war since the 1950-53 US-Korean War ended with a truce. However, the release of past United States detainees has generally come only after visits to Pyongyang by high-profile USA leaders, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
The two allies said the system would serve to protect South Korea and United States forces operating in the region from Pyongyang’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile systems. “I’m not going to share the details of diplomatic exchanges one way or the other, but none of the rhetoric that we’ve seen of late is doing anything to increase security and stability on the peninsula”, Kirby said.
The US and South Korea said on July 8, the THAAD anti-missile system would be used to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities.
Observations suggest that North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site was a hive of activity as recently as July 7, with a particular focus on the same area that witnessed the country’s last two tests.
“It is the unwavering will of our army to deal a ruthless retaliatory strike and turn [South Korea] into a sea of fire and a pile of ashes the moment we have an order to carry it out”, it said in a statement carried by KCNA.
Pyongyang also threatened South Korea with “the nightmare extreme uneasiness and terror [sic]” for agreement to its own defense, specifying that North Korea has planned a “physical response” to the announcement.
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Diplomacy with Pyongyang resulted in the liberation of Christian missionary Kenneth Bae, a move that North Korea has indicated it regrets following the publication of Bae’s book, Not Forgotten, which details the life of a captive in a North Korean labor camp.
