FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands after signing documents during a summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was expected to deliver a New Year’s address Tuesday, a speech that will be closely watched for signals as to where stalled nuclear talks with the U.S. are headed.
The speech will likely reflect on a year of diplomatic surprises by the reclusive leader, including an unprecedented summit with President Donald Trump and three meetings with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in. The moves -- an about-face from the weapons tests and threats of the previous year -- were telegraphed in Kim’s previous New Year’s speech, in which he offered to discuss participation in the Winter Olympics.
The timing of the speech is unclear, since North Korea rarely provides advance notice about Kim’s schedule. Previous addresses have been broadcast at either 9:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. local time.
The closely choreographed event will be scrutinized for signs on whether Kim wants to continue the diplomatic push -- including a possible second summit with Trump -- or draw a harder line against giving up his weapons. The North Korean leader took an accommodative tone in a letter to the South Korean president over the weekend, telling Moon he wanted resolve the nuclear issue this year.
"The New Year’s Day speech will likely address implementation of peace and prosperity, the denuclearization issue and maintaining the inter-Korean relations,” South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae Hyun told a briefing.
Kim revived his grandfather’s tradition of personally delivering a New Year’s message in 2013 after taking power in the wake of his father’s death. The address often contains a few consequential changes buried in several thousands of words of propaganda-laden prose.
Talks between the U.S. and North Korea have made little progress since Trump and Kim signed an agreement in June to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” without defining the term or setting a deadline. The two sides have clashed over the pace and sequence of talks, with North Korea demanding relief from international sanctions and the U.S. seeking more steps toward disarmament.
In an attempt to start working-level negotiations, the U.S. said it would review its policy on humanitarian aid to North Korea. With international sanctions squeezing the country’s trade flow and cash supply, any clues about the North Korean economy or Kim’s growth strategies will be closely examined.
