Anchor: As North Korea’s year-end deadline for the U.S. to adjust its posture in denuclearization negotiations fast approaches, a group of senior Democratic Senators have called on the Donald Trump administration to seek a deal before it’s too late. The call was made in a letter dated Wednesday and posted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee website.
Arius Derr has the details.

Report: Eight senior U.S. Democratic senators have sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to seek an interim deal with North Korea.

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, minority whip Dick Durbin and Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Robert Menendez are among the signatories.

The senators said Trump has yet to develop a workable diplomatic process to structure real, serious and sustainable negotiations with North Korea.

They expressed concern that Trump's efforts to advance the goals outlined at the Singapore summit last year appear to be on the brink of failure, adding that the regime has not met its stated commitments to diplomacy and denuclearization.

The letter points to more than a dozen ballistic missile tests in the past six months and an intercontinental ballistic missile engine test at the North’s Sohae space launch facility on December seventh.

The senators called for a “serious diplomatic plan" as part of a first step in a larger process that can provide a pathway to full denuclearization and a durable peace agreement.

Such a plan includes a sequenced process to freeze and roll back North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs in a verifiable way.

The senators said this should include a phased process to "verifiably dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear complex and other nuclear facilities."

They also called for continued sanctions and other pressure that leans on a robust deterrence posture, alliance frameworks, diplomatic engagement and inter-Korean dialogue.

The letter comes some two weeks before Pyongyang’s year-end deadline for Washington to show more flexibility in denuclearization talks.

The regime has threatened to go an unspecified “new way” should Washington fail to do so, and analysts are increasingly concerned about the prospects for renewed tensions in 2020.

The letter said that a resumption of "fire and fury” threats and other attempts at nuclear coercion against North Korea can increase the risk of a catastrophic war.

However, with the U.S. House passing articles of impeachment against Trump, experts say there may be a chance he abandons negotiations and re-embraces fiery threats to distract from domestic developments.
Arius Derr, KBS World Radio News.