(CNSNews.com) - White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby says the Biden administration is now willing to meet with North Korean officials "without preconditions" to "find a diplomatic path forward," after dictator Kim Jong Un fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile over Japan last week for the first time in five years.
That October 4 incident followed a series of seven short-range missile launches by North Korea since September 25.
But in January 2020, at one of the presidential debates, then-candidate Joe Biden said he would not meet with North Korean officials (as President Trump had done three times) without preconditions.
Martha Raddatz, host of ABC's "This Week," asked Kirby on Sunday, "what is the strategy" for dealing with a nuclear-armed North Korea? "I've seen this for decades and decades," Raddatz said, "the same thing happens through many presidents, you respond, you do drills, he keeps firing ballistic missiles."
"We want to see the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, verifiable and complete," Kirby responded:
"We want to see that. And we have communicated that to the North Koreans. In fact, we've communicated, Martha, that we are willing to sit down with them without preconditions at the negotiating table to work towards that end -- without preconditions.
"And Mister -- Kim Jong-un has decided not to take us up on that offer, and quite the opposite now, he is trying to improve his ballistic missile program. He's clearly not abandoned his nuclear weapons ambitions. And so, what we have to do as we have that offer on the table is make sure that we have also the capabilities in the region and ready to go in case we need them.
"We have five of seven treaty commitments, five of seven -- five of our seven treaty alliances are in the Indo-Pacific region. One is with Japan. Obviously, one is with South Korea. We take those treaty commitments very, very seriously and they impact our own national security. So --"
Raddatz interrupted:
"But, John, let me just say -- it doesn't work. It has not worked for decades. So what are you doing differently that you think will work this time?" Raddatz asked.
"We have improved our intelligence capability there, in and around the peninsula," Kirby said.
"We have worked hard to improve our military readiness. We did exercises this past week with the Japanese and with the South Koreans.
"We're working on better trilateral cooperation between all three of our countries. We're going to make sure that we have the capabilities in place to defend our national security interests if it comes to that.
"But there's no reason for it to come to that. That's the point, Martha. We could sit down, again, without preconditions with Kim Jong-un and try to find a diplomatic path forward. That's what we're committed to."
Joe Biden was asked at the January 14, 2020 debate if he would meet with Kim Jong Un “without preconditions.”
“President Trump has met with Kim Jong Un three times,” said CNN’s Abby Phillip, the debate moderator: “President Obama once said he would meet with North Korea without any preconditions. Would you meet with North Korea without any preconditions?” she asked Biden.
“No, not now,” Biden replied. “I wouldn’t meet with them without any preconditions. Look, we gave him everything he’s looking for – legitimacy. The president showed up, met with him, gave him legitimacy, weakened the sanctions we have against him.”
In fact, as CNSNews.com reported at the time, both the U.S. and U.N. Security Council sanctions targeting Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs were ratcheted up when Trump took office.
Trump met with the North Korean dictator three times -– at summits in Singapore in June 2018 and Hanoi in February 2019, and a June 2019 meeting at the DMZ dividing the two Koreas – but his refusal to ease sanctions remained consistent.
North Korea announced on Monday that its recent missile launches were "drills" guided by Kim Jong Un to assess the country's ability to carry out a nuclear attack.
Also See:
Biden Claims, Incorrectly, That Trump ‘Weakened’ Sanctions Against North Korea