It has been revealed that the US took the initiative in sending two covert diplomatic missions to North Korea last year.
While the US typically plans publically-known trips, such unofficial visits are not unprecedented. In 2011, American military officials took an unannounced visit to North Korea in an attempt to procure the remains of US soldiers slain in the Korean War of the 1950s.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Obama administration organized two off-the-book diplomatic trips in 2012. The trips, which took place in April and August and have been neither confirmed nor denied by the administration, shared a common goal: mending relations with the North Korea’s authoritarian government and persuading it to reduce the severity of its foreign policy.
National Counterproliferation Center (NCPC) Director Joseph DeTrani hoped the diplomats could dissuade Kim Jong-Un, who became North Korea’s Supreme Leader in late 2011, from following exactly in his father Kim Jong-Il’s footsteps. In an interview with the LA Times, DeTrani noted, “I was initially guardedly optimistic that [Kim] was moving in the right direction.”
However, Kim and his advisors declined the diplomats’ offers. In the coming months, the North Korean government would continue its anti-foreigner propaganda and pursue further military development including potentially devastating nuclear tests.
While the United States has condemned North Korea’s missile launches and supported sanctions in response, the nation has not taken any military action.
