U.S. President Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Monday (local time). AP-Yonhap

US-Sino cooperation on North Korea's denuclearization unlikely: experts

By Kang Seung-woo

The highly-touted virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed that issues regarding the Korean Peninsula, specifically the denuclearization of North Korea, were not a priority between the two superpowers that have a large influence on the matter.

Biden and Xi held the remote talks for three-and-a-half hours, which mainly featured the topics of trade, Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and human rights, leaving diplomatic observers to surmise that the North Korean issue has been put on the back burner for the time being.

The White House's post-summit statement mentioned North Korea only briefly, noting the two leaders "also exchanged views on key regional challenges, including DPRK, Afghanistan, and Iran." DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

"Given that there were a heap of pending bilateral issues between the United States and China, the two leaders may have touched on the North Korean matter in principle. That is why the White House simply mentioned that they discussed it," said Shin Beom-chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University, echoed Shin's view.

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"Biden is currently facing many domestic issues he needs to address, and the North Korean problem is something that is irresolvable, so he is not likely to expend political capital on denuclearizing North Korea. For China's part, it needs to embrace North Korea amid the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry. In that respect, the North Korean nuclear issue may have been touched on lightly, if it was not on the agenda," Park said.

Denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled since February 2019 when their last summit ended without a deal. As part of efforts to resurrect the dialogue, the U.S. has urged China to use its influence on the North.

However, pundits are skeptical about any possible cooperation between the two countries on the North Korean nuclear challenge.

"If trade between North Korea and China was flourishing, Beijing could have influence on Pyongyang, but currently, the North has nothing to lose from Beijing," said Kim Yeoul-soo, chief of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs.

"What the U.S. wants is China urging North Korea to return to nuclear talks and to accept an end-of-war declaration, but Pyongyang wants the U.S. to offer more concessions before declaring an official end to the Korean War regardless of progress on its denuclearization."

According to Kim, the concessions mean removing the U.S. "hostile policy" such as cancelling combined South Korea and U.S. military exercises and the deployment of U.S. strategic weapons, and finally withdrawing the U.S. Forces Korea ― demands that Washington cannot accept.

"In that sense, China's role in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue is limited," he added.

Park also said the mainstream belief in Washington that China can exert influence on North Korea is wrong.

"North Korea is a country pursuing its own independent nuclear path, so if China tries to have influence on the country, it could reject it, leaving China with few options on the nuclear issue," he said.

Shin said there will be no U.S.-Sino cooperation on North Korea unless Pyongyang stages a large-scale provocation.

"As North Korea has refrained from conducting a strategic provocation, the nuclear issue is not likely to be a priority for either country," he added.