🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 51 (from laksa176)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa051.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/22/politics/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/22/politics/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty","crawl_time":1774457822,"first_indexed_time":1747519255,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,cnn!www,\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty s443","src_root_hash":"2312100192101524051","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"North Korea offered – then rebuffed – talks with U.S. | CNN Politics","meta_descriptions":["Pyongyang quietly proposed formal peace talks to end the Korean War with the U.S. last year, but refused to let its nuclear program be included in dicussions."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Story highlights\nNorth Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October\nPyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks\nWashington\nCNN\n — \nNorth Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN.\nThat effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon.\nHow North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality\nAd Feedback\nAd Feedback\nBut it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba.\nThe U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions.\nIn doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks.\n“It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move.\n“Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said.\nThe Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.\nU.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea\n“To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.”\nNorth Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner.\n“They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said.\nOne issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.\nThose soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner.\nA peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations.\n“You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas.\nThe U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.\nThough the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang.\nThe measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there.\nThe latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted.\n“As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye.\n“At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added.\nThe Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table.\nPark said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal.\nNorth Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb\n“Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said.\nA day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations.\nIn an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed.\nThe statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.”\n“No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.”","attrs_markdown":"Thank You\\!\n\nYour effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much appreciated.\n\nClose\n\nAd Feedback\n\n[Politics](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics)\n\n[Trump](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/president-donald-trump-47)\n\n[Facts First](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/fact-check)\n\n[CNN Polls](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/polling)\n\n[2026 Elections](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2026)\n\n[Redistricting Tracker](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/state-redistricting-maps-vis\/index.html)\n\n[Epstein Files](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/epstein-files)\n\n[More]()\n\n[Trump](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/president-donald-trump-47)   [Facts First](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/fact-check)   [CNN Polls](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/polling)   [2026 Elections](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2026)   [Redistricting Tracker](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/state-redistricting-maps-vis\/index.html)   [Epstein Files](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/epstein-files)\n\n[Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription\/all-access)   [Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)\n\nSubscribe\n\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\n[Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)   [Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription\/all-access)\n***\nEdition\n\n[US](https:\/\/us.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[International](https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[Arabic](https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[Español](https:\/\/cnnespanol.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\nEdition\n\n- [US](https:\/\/us.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [International](https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [Arabic](https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [Español](https:\/\/cnnespanol.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n***\n[Trump](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/president-donald-trump-47)\n\n[Facts First](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/fact-check)\n\n[CNN Polls](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/polling)\n\n[2026 Elections](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2026)\n\n[Redistricting Tracker](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/state-redistricting-maps-vis\/index.html)\n\n[Epstein Files](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/politics\/epstein-files)\n***\nFollow CNN Politics\n\nDownload the CNN App\n***\n\n- [US](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us)\n  - 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[Subscribe](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription?source=sub_web_footersubnav-link)\n  - [Photos](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/world\/photos)\n  - [Investigations](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us\/cnn-investigates)\n  - [CNN Profiles](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles)\n  - [CNN Leadership](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/cnn-leadership)\n  - [CNN Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n  - [Work for CNN](https:\/\/careers.wbd.com\/cnnjobs)\n***\nDownload the CNN App\n\n# North Korea offered – then rebuffed – talks with U.S.\nElise Labott and [Nicole Gaouette](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/nicole-gaouette), CNN\n\n5 min read\n\nUpdated 7:47 PM EST, Mon February 22, 2016\n\nLink Copied\\!\n\n**Unable to load video**\n\nPlease try again later.\n\nError occurred while fetching labs\n\nSubtitles\n\n- Off\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nShould North Korea's new military chief watch his back?\n\n02:48   • Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\nNorth Korea Tensions  16 videos\n\n![moon jae-in the master dealmaker](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nMoon: The masterful dealmaker\n\n02:31\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Trump Kim Jong Un comment 04240218](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nTrump: Kim Jong Un very open and honorable\n\n01:26\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![korea art 1](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nFinding art on the edge of the DMZ\n\n03:06\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![A new Army chief of staff was announced in North Korea, proving that the previous one is history; are we are in for a long line of purges?](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nShould North Korea's new military chief watch his back?\n\n02:48\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![01 Moon Jae-In Kim Jong-Un SPLIT](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nNorth, South Korean leaders to meet again\n\n01:27\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![03 Sohae North Korea image](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nNew images show N. 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(Photo by Kevin Lim\/THE STRAITS TIMES\/Handout\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nKim Jong Un snubbed Mike Pompeo, source says\n\n01:56\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 09: National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks on a morning television show from the grounds of the White House, on May 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. Yesterday President Donald Trump announced that America was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. (Photo by Mark Wilson\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nBolton: US has plan for denuclearizing N. 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Korea dismantling test site\n\n01:44\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\nSee more videos\n\n### Story highlights\nNorth Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October\n\nPyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks\n\nWashington CNN —\n\nNorth Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN.\n\nThat effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon.\n\n[How North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/05\/asia\/north-korea-nuclear-program-explainer\/)\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nBut it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba.\n\nThe U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions.\n\nIn doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks.\n\n“It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move.\n\n“Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.\n\n[![F-22 fly low North Korea\\_00000907.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) F-22 fly low North Korea\\_00000907.jpg YTN video Related video U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/world\/2016\/02\/17\/f-22-fly-low-north-korea.cnn)\n\n[U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/17\/politics\/f-22-show-of-force-south-korea\/)\n\n“To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.”\n\nNorth Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner.\n\n“They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said.\n\nOne issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.\n\n[![File photo: A N. Korean soldier looks at S. Korea across the Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea, on December 28, 2011 in Panmunjom, S. Korea.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) File photo: A N. Korean soldier looks at S. Korea across the Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea, on December 28, 2011 in Panmunjom, S. Korea. File\/Jeon Heon-Kyun-pool\/Getty Images video Related video What weapons does North Korea have?](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/world\/2015\/08\/26\/north-korea-military-explainer-lah-orig-jong-un.cnn)\n\nThose soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner.\n\nA peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations.\n\n“You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas.\n\nThe U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.\n\nThough the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang.\n\n[![T1 north korea satellite launch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) KCTV gallery Related gallery North Korea launches rocket](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/07\/asia\/gallery\/north-korea-missile-launch\/index.html)\n\nThe measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there.\n\nThe latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted.\n\n“As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye.\n\n“At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added.\n\nThe Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table.\n\nPark said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal.\n\n[North Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/28\/politics\/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test\/)\n\n“Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said.\n\n[![Kim Jong Un North Korea Leader life\\_00000406.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Kim Jong Un North Korea Leader life\\_00000406.jpg KCTV video Related video Who is Kim Jong Un?](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/tv\/2015\/10\/08\/kim-jong-un-north-korea-leader-life.cnn)\n\nA day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations.\n\nIn an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed.\n\nThe statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.”\n\n“No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.”\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nSubscribe\n\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\n[Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)   [Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/watch)\n***\n- [US](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us)\n  - 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All Rights Reserved.   \n CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.\n\n## Download the CNN app\nScan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.\n\n![Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from Google Play.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/google-play-cnn-app-qr-code.png)\n\n## Download the CNN app\nScan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.\n\n![Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/app-store-cnn-app-qr-code.png)\n\n![CNN Logo](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn.svg)\n\n## Legal Terms and Privacy\nBy clicking Agree, you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and agree to the collection and use of your information by cookies and similar technologies, as set forth in our Privacy Policy.\n\nBy clicking \"Agree\", you have read and agree to the [Terms of Use](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/terms) and agree to the collection and use of your information by cookies and similar technologies, as set forth in our [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/privacy).\n\n[Agree](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/22\/politics\/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty)","attrs_readable_markdown":"### Story highlights\nNorth Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October\n\nPyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks\n\nWashington CNN —\n\nNorth Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN.\n\nThat effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon.\n\n[How North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/05\/asia\/north-korea-nuclear-program-explainer\/)\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nBut it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba.\n\nThe U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions.\n\nIn doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks.\n\n“It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move.\n\n“Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.\n\n[U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/17\/politics\/f-22-show-of-force-south-korea\/)\n\n“To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.”\n\nNorth Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner.\n\n“They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said.\n\nOne issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea.\n\nThose soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner.\n\nA peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations.\n\n“You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas.\n\nThe U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.\n\nThough the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang.\n\nThe measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there.\n\nThe latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted.\n\n“As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye.\n\n“At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added.\n\nThe Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table.\n\nPark said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal.\n\n[North Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/28\/politics\/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test\/)\n\n“Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said.\n\nA day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations.\n\nIn an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed.\n\nThe statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.”\n\n“No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.”","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	North Korea offered – then rebuffed – talks with U.S. \| CNN Politics
Meta Description	Pyongyang quietly proposed formal peace talks to end the Korean War with the U.S. last year, but refused to let its nuclear program be included in dicussions.
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Boilerpipe Text	Story highlights North Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October Pyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks Washington CNN — North Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN. That effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon. How North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality Ad Feedback Ad Feedback But it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba. The U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions. In doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks. “It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move. “Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea “To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.” North Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner. “They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said. One issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. Those soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner. A peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations. “You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas. The U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Though the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang. The measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there. The latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted. “As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye. “At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added. The Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table. Park said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal. North Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb “Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said. A day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations. In an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed. The statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.” “No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.”
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Error occurred while fetching labs Subtitles - Off Video Ad Feedback Should North Korea's new military chief watch his back? 02:48 • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) North Korea Tensions 16 videos ![moon jae-in the master dealmaker](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Moon: The masterful dealmaker 02:31 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Trump Kim Jong Un comment 04240218](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Trump: Kim Jong Un very open and honorable 01:26 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![korea art 1](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Finding art on the edge of the DMZ 03:06 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![A new Army chief of staff was announced in North Korea, proving that the previous one is history; are we are in for a long line of purges?](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Should North Korea's new military chief watch his back? 02:48 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![01 Moon Jae-In Kim Jong-Un SPLIT](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback North, South Korean leaders to meet again 01:27 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![03 Sohae North Korea image](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback New images show N. Korea dismantling test site 01:44 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![mike pompeo on north korea](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Pompeo dismisses N. Korea's 'gangster' comments 00:40 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![SINGAPORE - JUNE 12: In this handout photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump during their historic U.S.-DPRK summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island on June 12, 2018 in Singapore. U.S. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held the historic meeting between leaders of both countries on Tuesday morning in Singapore, carrying hopes to end decades of hostility and the threat of North Korea's nuclear program. (Photo by Kevin Lim/THE STRAITS TIMES/Handout/Getty Images)](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Kim Jong Un snubbed Mike Pompeo, source says 01:56 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 09: National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks on a morning television show from the grounds of the White House, on May 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. Yesterday President Donald Trump announced that America was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Bolton: US has plan for denuclearizing N. Korea 01:34 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![planet labs inc satellite images nk](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Satellite images show missile plant construction 01:25 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Susan Rice June 17 2018 01](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Susan Rice: Kim Jong Un beat Trump at summit 01:14 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Images of the Norrth Korea missile launch on November 28 taken from Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official newspaper. ](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/171129175643-01-nk-missile1128.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_898,w_1596,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Will North Korea restart nuclear tests? 02:14 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![north korea kim jong un video](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426160428-north-korea-kim-jong-un-video.jpg?q=x_4,y_172,h_1860,w_3306,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Will Kim Jong Un ever give up his nukes? 03:00 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![kim digital video 2](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426213643-kim-digital-video-2.jpg?q=x_3,y_143,h_1572,w_2794,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback What's bringing Kim Jong Un to the table 02:27 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![who is kim jong un orig tease 1](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180426130953-who-is-kim-jong-un-orig-tease-1.jpg?q=x_4,y_77,h_2246,w_3991,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Kim Jong Un: From global pariah to the man to meet 01:51 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![rep gerry connolly tsr](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/180424174153-rep-gerry-connolly-tsr.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_1078,w_1915,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Connolly: Trump comment on Kim 'jaw-dropping' 01:43 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![moon jae-in the master dealmaker](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Moon: The masterful dealmaker 02:31 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Trump Kim Jong Un comment 04240218](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Trump: Kim Jong Un very open and honorable 01:26 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![korea art 1](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Finding art on the edge of the DMZ 03:06 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![A new Army chief of staff was announced in North Korea, proving that the previous one is history; are we are in for a long line of purges?](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Should North Korea's new military chief watch his back? 02:48 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![01 Moon Jae-In Kim Jong-Un SPLIT](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback North, South Korean leaders to meet again 01:27 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![03 Sohae North Korea image](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback New images show N. Korea dismantling test site 01:44 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) See more videos ### Story highlights North Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October Pyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks Washington CNN — North Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN. That effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon. [How North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/asia/north-korea-nuclear-program-explainer/) Ad Feedback Ad Feedback But it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba. The U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions. In doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks. “It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move. “Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. [![F-22 fly low North Korea\_00000907.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) F-22 fly low North Korea\_00000907.jpg YTN video Related video U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/02/17/f-22-fly-low-north-korea.cnn) [U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/f-22-show-of-force-south-korea/) “To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.” North Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner. “They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said. One issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. [![File photo: A N. Korean soldier looks at S. Korea across the Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea, on December 28, 2011 in Panmunjom, S. Korea.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) File photo: A N. Korean soldier looks at S. Korea across the Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea, on December 28, 2011 in Panmunjom, S. Korea. File/Jeon Heon-Kyun-pool/Getty Images video Related video What weapons does North Korea have?](https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/08/26/north-korea-military-explainer-lah-orig-jong-un.cnn) Those soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner. A peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations. “You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas. The U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Though the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang. [![T1 north korea satellite launch](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) KCTV gallery Related gallery North Korea launches rocket](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/07/asia/gallery/north-korea-missile-launch/index.html) The measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there. The latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted. “As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye. “At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added. The Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table. Park said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal. [North Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/politics/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test/) “Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said. [![Kim Jong Un North Korea Leader life\_00000406.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Kim Jong Un North Korea Leader life\_00000406.jpg KCTV video Related video Who is Kim Jong Un?](https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/10/08/kim-jong-un-north-korea-leader-life.cnn) A day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations. In an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed. The statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.” “No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.” Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Subscribe Sign in My Account - [Settings](https://www.cnn.com/account/settings) - [Newsletters](https://www.cnn.com/newsletters) - [Topics you follow](https://www.cnn.com/follow?iid=fw_var-nav) - [Sign out](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/22/politics/north-korea-nuclear-talks-peace-treaty) Your CNN account Sign in to your CNN account * [Listen](https://www.cnn.com/audio) [Watch](https://www.cnn.com/watch) * - 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Readable Markdown	### Story highlights North Korea reached out to U.S. after Obama comments in October Pyongyang rejected any attempt to include nuclear program in talks Washington CNN — North Korea quietly reached out to U.S. officials through the United Nations in New York last fall to propose formal peace talks on ending the Korean War, a response to President Barack Obama’s comments that the U.S. was willing to engage Pyongyang as it has with other rogue regimes, senior U.S. officials told CNN. That effort fell short, the officials said, with the North Koreans refusing to include their nuclear program in any negotiations as the U.S. required and soon after testing a nuclear weapon. [How North Korea’s nuclear program went from threats to reality](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/asia/north-korea-nuclear-program-explainer/) Ad Feedback Ad Feedback But it represented a new step from the Obama administration as it tried to lure the hermetic country out of its isolation and extend its track record of successful negotiations with nations long at odds with the United States, such as Iran and Cuba. The U.S. told North Korea it was willing to discuss a formal peace to replace the 63-year-old armistice that ended hostilities after the Korean War, but only if efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear program were part of the discussions. In doing so, the administration dropped a longstanding demand that North Korea take steps toward “denuclearization” before talks on a formal peace treaty began. Still, the North Koreans refused to allow the nuclear issue to be part of any talks. “It’s a tweaking of the conditions,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy division chief for the CIA in South Korea, describing the administration’s move. “Rather than requiring progress on denuclearization before negotiations, it seems the administration agreed to the idea of peace talks but required denuclearization talks to be included,” Klingner said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the diplomatic exchanges, but the Obama administration disputed their depiction of events, saying it was North Korea that first proposed the talks rather than the United States, which maintained its focus on ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons. [U.S. F-22s fly low in a show of force over South Korea](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/f-22-show-of-force-south-korea/) “To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. “We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. The North rejected our response.” North Korea has regularly proposed peace talks over the years, pushing the U.S. to replace the 1953 armistice with a formal peace treaty, said Klingner. “They periodically raise the idea and it never really gets far,” he said. One issue that complicates the effort is the need to establish parameters for any negotiations before they begin, in particular to ensure that North Korea’s conventional threat to the South is defused before there’s any demand to remove some of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. Those soldiers, airmen and Marines provide some deterrent to the North, a highly militarized country that maintains a standing army of 1.2 million active soldiers, 70% of whom are deployed within 100 miles of the border with South Korea, according to Klingner. A peace treaty should only be signed after arduous negotiations to reduce the North Korean conventional force threat to South Korea, said Klingner, who has taken part in other treaty negotiations. “You also have to implement confidence-building measures as the U.S. did in Europe,” Klingner said, mentioning steps like advance notice of large-scale military exercises and reducing the number of North Korean forces near the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas. The U.S. attempt to reach out ended definitively with North Korea’s January 6 announcement that it had tested a hydrogen bomb, following nuclear weapons tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Though the U.S. has expressed doubt that a hydrogen bomb was indeed tested – with some officials instead characterizing the explosion as having perhaps contained components of such a weapon – the U.S. responded last week with a new round of sanctions against Pyongyang. The measures freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs or involved in human rights violations there. The latest diplomatic dance between the U.S. and North Korea started in October, when Obama signaled that Washington was willing to negotiate a deal similar to the agreement reached last year with Iran, in which Tehran agreed to significantly curb its nuclear program in exchange for international sanctions being lifted. “As my administration has shown with Iran and with Cuba, we are also prepared to engage nations with which we’ve had troubled histories,” Obama said in an October 16 press conference alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye. “At the point where Pyongyang says, ‘We’re interested in seeing relief from sanctions and improved relations, and we are prepared to have a serious conversation about denuclearization,’ I think it’s fair to say we’ll be right there at the table,” he added. The Obama administration at that time said it would waive the standard requirement that North Korea make progress on denuclearization before peace talks could begin, but said denuclearization had to remain on the table. Park said South Korea was also ready to engage with Pyongyang if the regime showed it was serious about curtailing its nuclear arsenal. [North Korea may have tested components of a hydrogen bomb](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/politics/north-korea-hydrogen-bomb-test/) “Should North Korea demonstrate a genuine willingness towards denuclearization, we reaffirm that Korea and the U.S., along with the rest of the international community, stand ready to extend cooperative measures to the North,” she said. A day later, North Korea rejected the idea of resuming international talks on ending its nuclear program and suggested instead that the United States negotiate a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War. Within weeks, senior administration officials said, the regime repeated the message thorough its mission to the United Nations. In an October 17 statement published by the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency and read in part on state-run television KRT, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said past efforts to focus exclusively on international denuclearization talks had failed. The statement said that increased diplomatic pressure and sanctions wouldn’t bring North Korea to the negotiating table, but that a peace treaty could reduce tensions and make it possible to “finally put an end to the nuclear arms race.” “No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else,” the statement said. “If the United States insists on taking a different path, the Korean peninsula will only see our unlimited nuclear deterrent being strengthened further.”
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