NATO calls for ‘complete, verifiable, irreversible’ denuclearization of N. Korea

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) urged the resumption of U.S.-North Korea negotiations for “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea in a joint statement issued on Monday during a summit in Brussels. The re-emergence of the concept CVID in a NATO joint statement joined for the first time by the U.S. President Joe Biden has drawn the international attention as North Korea had strongly objected that the term is a concept forced upon a “defeated nation.” It clearly stated their goal of dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons at a higher level than the goal of achieving “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” agreed between President Moon Jae-in and President Joe Biden during their summit last month.

“We reiterate the Alliance’s full support to the goal of the CVID,” the NATO said in its joint statement issued after a summit in Brussels, calling on North Korea to engage in meaningful denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. to achieve the goal. They also urged North Korea to eliminate its “nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare capabilities and ballistic missiles.” The Group of Seven (G7) nations put an emphasis on “complete, verifiable, and irreversible abandonment” of North Korea’s nuclear program in a joint statement issued after their meeting in London.

The Biden administration used the term “complete denuclearization of North Korea” in the early days of his presidency. However, Seoul persuaded Washington to use the term “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” in their joint statement issued after their summit last month. Seoul said this change reflects Washington’s willingness to resume talks with Pyongyang.

With the term CVID being used again in the NATO joint statement led by the U.S., some experts say that the basic stance of the Biden administration remains unchanged. This means that the U.S. agreed to use the term “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” in a joint statement with South Korea to cater to Seoul’s wishes of not wanting to provoke North Korea, not because it softened its stance on CVID. “The goal of denuclearization has been put in slightly different terms in the past,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said during a regular briefing on Tuesday. “The important thing is that the leaders of South Korea and the U.S. share the common goal of achieving denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.”


Ji-Sun Choi aurinko@donga.com