Report: US Offered Partial Sanctions Relief on North Korea

According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the US offered partial relief of UN economic sanctions against North Korea on condition of them taking new steps toward denuclearization.

This deal was offered during working-level talks in Sweden earlier this month. North Korea had complained the US came to the talks empty-handed, while the State Department claimed they had offered some “creative ideas,” which apparently was this sanctions relief.

Specifics on what the US was offering aren’t entirely clear, but they were conditioning on North Korea completely closing Yongbyon nuclear complex and handing over all nuclear material and ballistic missiles to the United States.

North Korea’s idea of denuclearization appears to stop short of the US idea, which involves North Korea giving them their entire program as a gift. This has been a bone of contention for awhile.

The idea that North Korea needs to do everything before they get any sanctions relief was another major problem North Korea had with the previous process. Though the US seems to be making some moves to improve that, it’s not clear how much they’re actually offering, and clearly North Korea believes its not enough.