US Raises North Korea’s ‘Destabilizing’ Acts in Talks With China

Jon Herskovitz
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The US special representative for North Korea and his Chinese counterpart held talks over Washington’s concerns that Pyongyang is supplying arms to Russia and Beijing may be forcibly returning North Koreans in its territory.

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Sung Kim held a video conference Monday with China’s Liu Xiaoming to discuss North Korea’s “increasingly destabilizing and escalatory behavior,” the State Department said in a statement. Kim added that Pyongyang’s weapons transfers to help Russia “threaten to undermine global non-proliferation and violate numerous UN Security Council resolutions.”

The talks could portend possible areas of discussion ahead of an expected summit next month between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The US has long sought Beijing’s help in using the economic lifeline it has provided North Korea to rein in Pyongyang and for Xi to avoid any military cooperation that could add firepower to the Kremlin’s war machine.

Read: Kim, Putin Meet at Russian Space Center for Possible Arms Deal

The US has accused Kim Jong Un’s regime of supplying munitions to help President Vladimir Putin in his assault on Ukraine. Cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow has increased this year, with Kim and Putin holding a summit in Russia in September and the White Housing saying this month that Kim’s regime had provided 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions.

When asked about the talks with the US envoy, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing: “The current deadlock of the Korean Peninsula is because of the lack of a peace mechanism and the residue of the Cold War. All parties should address each other’s concerns in a balanced manner.”

Xi met Putin about two weeks ago in Beijing and delivered comments that reinforced the tight ties that have developed between the two, especially since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Beijing has provided diplomatic and economic support to Moscow that has helped blunt the effects of Western sanctions on Russia.

Read: Xi Backs Putin on Security, Wants Progress on Gas Pipeline

US ally South Korea, meanwhile, has been putting pressure on China to halt the forced repatriation of North Koreans after human rights groups said Beijing has sent hundreds of North Koreans back across the border, Yonhap News reported.

China for years has viewed the North Koreans as economic refugees and sent them back home, where they face imprisonment and, in some cases, capital punishment, according to human rights groups.

The sanctions imposed by leading democracies on Putin and Kim Jong Un have drawn the two closer in ways that could make the world more dangerous.

North Korea has huge stores of artillery shells and rockets that are interoperable with the weaponry Russia has deployed to the frontlines of Ukraine. While the US said the weapons won’t alter the battlefield, they could add to the grinding attacks Ukraine is confronting.

For its part, North Korea may be seeking technology transfers from Russia of dual-use materials that could be delivered under the guise of helping its civilian space and nuclear programs and still appear to be in accordance with international norms. But the materials could also be used to further North Korea’s ability to build missiles and nuclear bombs — in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Russia and North Korea have denied accusations of any arms transfers.

--With assistance from Colum Murphy.

(Updates with comment from China foreign ministry in fifth paragraph.)

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