Description

A continuing leitmotif of North Korean regional foreign policy is its aim to establish a full political and economic relation with the US – to include a peace treaty between the two countries. This goal has been the centerpiece of North Korea’s foreign policy on the US since the signing of the Agreed Framework on 21 Oct 94. North Korea cites Paragraph II of the 1994 Agreed Framework as the basis of its argument whenever it claims that the US is not living up to agreed commitments regarding North Korea. Recent events of TD-2 launch, withdrawal from the 6PT, continued extraction of plutonium from the spent fuel rods were all designed to cajole the US into bilateral negotiations, paving the way for an eventual normalization of relations with the US.