Strategy Alignment

[Anchor Lead]

North Korean ambassadors to China, Russia and the United Nations are known to have returned home on urgent notice on March 19th. As North Korea-US negotiations are in a stalemate since their no-deal Hanoi summit, Pyongyang's summons of its top diplomats are viewed as an aim to realign future strategies.

[Pkg]

​North Korean Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong, Ambassador to Russia Kim Hyong-jun and Pyongyang's top envoy to the UN Kim Song reportedly returned home on March 19th on an Air Koryo flight from Beijing. According to sources in Beijing, a dozen North Korean diplomats, including the ambassadors, were seen at the airport. It's considered highly unusual for North Korean envoys stationed in key countries related to the nuclear issue to return home at the same time amid stalled denuclearization negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington. Pundits say the regime is seeking to straighten out future strategies as talks with the US are deadlocked since the no-deal Hanoi summit. Some speculate the diplomats might be heading home to attend an annual gathering of foreign mission chiefs or take part in the first session of the North's newly elected parliament scheduled next month. But other sources believe the fact that the ambassador to China who rarely ever leaves Beijing has returned to Pyongyang indicates some kind of important discussion related to North Korea-U.S. ties is under way. Amid stepped up American sanctions on the reclusive state, China and Russia, members of the stalled six-party talks, have supported North Korea's call for a step-by-step denuclearization involving simultaneous measures. In a recent letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song called for a complete reconsideration of sanctions on Pyongyang. He protested that the regime is not able to host a UN conference that was scheduled to take place in the North in September due to the sanctions.