Cui Shanji’s visit to Russia during the sensitive period, North Korea’s tough stance on the United States attracted outside attention.

Cui Shanji, the first deputy minister of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in Moscow on November 20th. The two sides discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the development of DPRK-Russia cooperation. According to Sputnik news agency & radio, Cui Shanji reiterated in an interview after the talks that day: "I think that if the United States proposes negotiations in the future, we will only discuss the nuclear issue after they cancel their hostile policy." Cui Shanji did not disclose what specific measures the DPRK asked the United States to take. She said: "As long as the United States stops hostilities and informs us of its strategic decision." She also said that there is no plan to contact the US during her stay in Russia.

Cui Shanji: Kim Jong-un’s "Spokesperson"

Cui Shanji (data map)

On April 13, 2019, the new national leadership team of North Korea appeared in the first row. The left one is Cui Shanji (Korean Central News Agency)

After Kim Jong-un became the leader of North Korea, Cui Shanji was one of the new female faces in the leadership of North Korea. Since 2019, Cui Shanji’s "activity" in politics has attracted worldwide attention. In March, she was elected as a member of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK for the first time; On April 10, she crossed the position of alternate member of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea and was directly elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party; On April 11th, she became the only female member of the State Council, the highest decision-making organ of the DPRK government. On April 24, she visited Russia with Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, as the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the first time. Cui Shanji frequently speaks on behalf of Kim Jong-un on important diplomatic issues. In the eyes of many foreign media, Cui Shanji has become a "spokesman for Kim Jong-un". Cui Shanji made clear the position of Kim Jong-un’s government on the DPRK nuclear issue in a public conversation on September 9. "If the US side comes up with the old routine in the DPRK-US working-level consultations, the exchanges between the DPRK and the United States will end."

North Korea has frequently made a tough stance toward the United States recently.

There are obvious differences between the DPRK and the United States on the pace and arrangement of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, especially when to lift sanctions against the DPRK. This disagreement made the meeting between Kim Jong-un and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019 unsuccessful. US President Trump "shouted" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on social media on November 17, saying that he hoped to meet Kim Jong-un again as soon as possible. On the same day, the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the DPRK nuclear issue will not be discussed when resuming talks with the United States unless the United States puts the "hostile policy" against the DPRK on the agenda.

Yeong-cheol Kim (data map)

Myong gil Kim (video screenshot)

North Korean officials have recently put pressure on the United States to ask Washington to abandon its hostile policy toward the DPRK, or they will not be able to negotiate with Pyongyang on denuclearization. Kim Kye Gwan, adviser to the DPRK Foreign Ministry, said on the 18th that the DPRK is no longer interested in those talks that are useless. "We don’t want to continue to provide something for the US president to show off without any return. North Korea should get a return commensurate with President Trump’s achievements as a political achievement." According to a report by Korean Central News Agency on November 19, Yeong-cheol Kim, chairman of the North Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, had "collected debts" from US President Trump the day before: "From now on, North Korea will pay them back one by one." Myong gil Kim, the visiting ambassador of the DPRK Foreign Ministry and the DPRK’s chief representative for working-level consultations between the DPRK and the United States, said in an interview on the 19th that the reason why the DPRK and the United States can’t start consultations at present is not the lack of communication channels or arbitrators, and hoped that Washington would not create an atmosphere of interest in the US-DPRK dialogue under the banner of a third country.

The DPRK-ROK relations are delicate, and the DPRK has made it clear that it is unwilling to "see for the sake of seeing".

According to Korean Central News Agency, South Korean President Moon Jae in sent a personal letter to Kim Jong-un on November 5th, "earnestly inviting" him to attend the special summit of South Korea-Association of Southeast Asian Nations to be held in Busan, South Korea on November 25th. However, Korean Central News Agency said in the report that if Moon Jae in’s personal letter expressed his "sincere trust and expectation" for Kim Jong-un, the DPRK "had no reason not to thank him". It is only in the case that what was agreed at the previous meeting between the leaders of the two sides "has not been implemented" that "the North-South summit meeting is meaningless only in form, which is the position of North Korea."

It is also known that Cui Shanji’s visit to Russia is to attend the first round of Russia-DPRK strategic dialogue to discuss international and bilateral affairs extensively. The South Korean media said that Cui Shanji’s visit to Russia, a confidant of Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, and an important figure in the DPRK-US nuclear talks, deserves attention from the outside world.