North Korea unlikely to respond to US vaccine offer

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By Nam Hyun-woo

The U.S. is making efforts to facilitate talks with North Korea with an offering of COVID-19 vaccines, but the probability of Pyongyang accepting this offer seems to be low, given the Kim Jong-un regime's ignoring of humanitarian aid offers and its strict quarantine policy.

Experts said Wednesday the U.S. move can be interpreted as a tactic of showing various benefits available to the North if it joins the party, in the wake of the Joe Biden administration's new North Korea policy. However, they have expressed doubts whether the North will find the vaccine offer attractive, as the regime seeks to be on equal footing with Washington and has not been acting desperate for vaccines.

On Tuesday, CNN reported that the U.S. is open to sharing coronavirus vaccines and other humanitarian assistance to help North Korea, citing sources familiar with internal discussions.

"While we are open to considering DPRK requests for humanitarian assistance, these would need to be accompanied by effective monitoring to ensure that it reached the intended beneficiaries," a senior U.S. administration official was quoted as saying in the report. DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The report said the Biden administration believes the North will not be ready to engage with the U.S. until the pandemic has passed, thus "sharing vaccines could grease the wheels for initial diplomatic engagement."

However, experts here said chances are slim that Pyongyang would request vaccines from the U.S. or accept humanitarian aid.

"There is a deep-rooted distrust or rejection on American and Western goods in North Korea. You can easily see the impossibility when you think of how the Kim regime is propagating anti-U.S. ideology to its people," said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University of North Korea Studies. "North Korea has other options such as Chinese or Russian COVID-19 vaccines. Why would the regime chose vaccines developed by Western countries?"

Nam said the U.S. move should be interpreted as a strategy of showcasing various benefits in order to draw the North out for talks.

"Along with the vaccine offer, there are arguments over whether Pyongyang accepted the U.S.' proposal last week to explain the outcome of its North Korea policy review. These seem to be the U.S.'s gesture to entice the North for talks by showing there will be benefits," Nam said. "Given the U.S. has revealed the direction of its North Korea policy recently, the vaccine offer can be interpreted as an effort to build an overture to the new policy."

In response to the U.S. offer last week, the North has reportedly said the proposal has been "well received," without elaborating further.

People wearing protective gear carry out disinfection works at a public facility in Tanchon, North Korea, in this Dec. 5, 2020, photo released by the North's Korea Central News Agency. Yonhap

The Kim regime has also been showing no interest in humanitarian aid. North Korea has already refused South Korea's offer to share vaccines, describing vaccines as a commodity it can live without.

The North has been retaining a similar stance for the past few years. In April last year, former U.S. President Donald Trump said he was "okay" with South Korea's food aid to the North, but the aid program did not take place even in 2019 when the relations between the two Koreas and the U.S. were more amicable.

"The recent U.S. moves can be seen as an indirect conciliatory gesture to see how the North will react to the policy review," said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification. "However, the vaccine offer seems to be questionable, because Pyongyang does not appear interested in U.S. vaccines."

According to him, the North has yet to fully resume trade with China, despite earlier anticipation that the North would open its borders this spring, and this is largely attributable to Pyongyang's strict quarantine policy.

"If North Korea were to be dependent on vaccines, there could have been more action to import vaccines from China or Russia," Hong said. "Also, the North is seeking equal footing in terms of talks with the U.S. Being a recipient country is a disadvantage in negotiations, and North Korea is not a country to take such a tactic.

"Given such circumstances, the U.S. vaccine offer seems unattractive for North Korea. If there were to be vaccine sharing, it will happen as a symbol only after Washington and Pyongyang meet and the former offers a humanitarian exchange."