2018 was a year in which expectations for peace on the Korean Peninsula reached an all-time high.
The inter-Korean summits were held in April, May, and September, and the first-ever North Korea-US summit was held in June.
The Punggye-ri nuclear test site was also detonated in May.
[Interview; Colonel Park Yong-geon / North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Research Institute]
Didn't you all witness it?
When the entrance was blown up, there was another explosion and a huge eruption from inside.
There was an explosion from inside. If only the entrance had exploded, that would not have happened.
At the beginning of that year, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un showed a gesture of reconciliation by expressing his intention to 'send a delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and have a dialogue' in his New Year's address.
[Interview; Kim Jong-un / Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea]
We must work together to ease military tensions and create a peaceful environment.
As for the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, we are willing to take necessary measures, including sending a delegation, and for this purpose, the authorities of the North and the South may meet urgently.
On February 9, a high-level delegation including Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's younger sister, visited South Korea for the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
As Kim Jong-un's special envoy, Kim Yo-jong delivered a personal letter inviting President Moon to visit North Korea.
However, North Korea's real intentions were different.
On February 8, the day before Kim Yo-jong's visit to South Korea, North Korea held a ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army.
This is a document that verbatim copies of the speech Kim Jong-un gave to the 131st Guidance Bureau and the 2nd Academy of Natural Sciences on that day.
The 131st Guidance Bureau and the 2nd Academy of Natural Sciences are key organizations related to North Korea's nuclear development.
Surprisingly, the speech mentions the 'dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site' that took place on May 24 of that year, three months before.
"We must prepare thorough countermeasures against the enemies' ceremonial peace strategy in relation to the dismantling of the nuclear test site."
“We must firmly uphold the principles of independence, peace, and national unity that North Korea has maintained, and we must not be shaken by the enemies' peace offensive.”
[Interview; Kim Yeol-su / Director of the Security Strategy Office, Korea Institute for Military Affairs]
North Korea has already calculated how to conduct the inter-Korean summit, how to approach the U.S.-North Korea summit, and what gifts to offer to achieve their goals. On February 8, they informed key figures that they would close the nuclear test site.
This shows how thoroughly Kim Jong-un prepared for the inter-Korean summit and how meticulously he planned for the U.S.-North Korea summit.
In particular, North Korea emphasized that after the demolition of the nuclear test site, they could build an even more advanced nuclear facility in the future.
Additionally, the remarks hinted at the human cost involved in their nuclear development process:
"We express the highest respect, in the name of the Party Central Committee and the State Affairs Commission, to the soldiers of the 131 Guidance Bureau, who, on the frontlines of the Party and the nation's prosperity and rise to greatness, unhesitatingly sacrificed their youthful lives and blood."
[Interview; Representative Lee Yoon-geol / North Korea Strategic Information Service Center]
A person in one of the nine branches of the 3rd Zone of the Strategic Rocket Force Command suffered greatly from radiation damage due to uranium damage and died.
Looking at these things, I think they may have suffered radiation damage because North Korea was preparing to launch warheads of nuclear weapons.
A series of actions that caught the attention of the world media in 2018, namely, attending the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, dismantling the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, and holding four summits
Kim Jong-un’s 2018 statement shows that all of these were a long-term, thoroughly calculated show by North Korea for its nuclear development.
[저작권자(c) YTN 무단전재, 재배포 및 AI 데이터 활용 금지]