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S. Korea Lawmakers: N. Korea Wants Sanctions Eased to Restart Talks With US

Reuters

   SEOUL - North Korea wants internationalsanctions banning its metal
   exports and imports of refined fueland other necessities lifted in
   order torestartdenuclearization talks with the United States, South
   Koreanlawmakers said Tuesday.
   The North alsohasdemanded the easing of sanctions on itsimports of
   luxury goods to be able to bring in fine liquors andsuits, the
   lawmakers said after being briefed by South Korea'smain intelligence
   agency.
   The briefing came a week after the two Koreas restoredhotlines that
   North Korea suspended a year ago.
   North Korea's state-run media made no mention on Tuesday ofany new
   request for the lifting sanctions to restart talks.
   The South Korea legislators said North Korean leader KimJong Un and
   South Korean President MoonJae-inhad bothexpressed a willingness to
   rebuild trust and improve ties sinceApril, and Kim had asked to
   reconnect the hotlines.

   They also said North Korea was in need of some 1 milliontons of rice,
   as its economy was battered by the coronaviruspandemic and bad weather
   last year.

   South Korea's central bank said last week North Korea'seconomy suffered
   its biggest contraction in 23 years in 2020 asit was battered by U.N.
   sanctions, COVID-19 lockdown measuresand the weather.

   Moon has made improving diplomatic and economic relationswith North
   Korea a top priority, while the United States haslong insisted
   relations with North Koreacan notimprove untilit gives up its nuclear
   and missile programs.

   North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006 andtest-fired
   missiles capable of hitting the United States.

   The U.N. Security Council has issued a wide range ofsanctions against
   North Korea, including entities andindividuals in the reclusive
   country, for pursuing its nuclearand ballistic missile programs in
   defiance of U.N.resolutions.

   The United States, Japan and South Korea alsohaveissuedsanctions on
   NorthKorea,but they are not binding on othercountries.

   A senior official in President Joe Biden's administrationtold Reuters
   in March that North Korea had not responded tobehind-the-scenes
   diplomatic outreach since mid-February.

   The Biden administration has been cautious in publiclydescribing its
   approach to North Korea, saying it was carryingout a comprehensive
   policy review following former PresidentDonald Trump's unprecedented
   engagement with North Korean leaderKim Jong Un.
   North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon or itslongest-range
   intercontinental ballistic missiles[ICBMs]since2017, ahead of an
   historic meeting in Singapore between leaderKim Jong Un and Trump in
   2018.

   That meeting and two subsequent ones failed to persuadeNorth Korea to
   give up its nuclear weapons or its missileprogram.
   Independent U.N. sanctions monitors found that North Koreamaintained
   and developed its nuclear and ballistic missileprograms throughout 2020
   in violation of sanctions, helpingfund them with some $300 million
   stolen through cyber hacks.

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