US' top North Korea diplomat announces surprise retirement

Joseph Yun, who is in his early 60s, told CNN: "It was completely my decision to retire at this time." He said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accepted his resignation "with regret."

Yun's departure raises questions and adds to uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's North Korea policy as ally South Korea engages in talks with the North for the first time in years.

It had been Yun's job to help spearhead diplomatic efforts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions during a year of heightened tensions which appeared to ease with North Korea's participation in the Winter Games.

"I think this is a huge loss for the US government at a critical moment," Abraham Denmark, the director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Denmark worked closely with Yun while the former served as the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia during the Obama administration.

"He was a great advocate for dialogue and for diplomacy, and I think it's unfortunate that his voice will no longer be in the conversation inside the US government," Denmark said.

Olympic diplomacy

A high-level North Korean delegation in South Korea for the Winter Games told officials there Sunday that the doors were open for dialogue with the US. The US has said it is willing to hold talks but intends to maintain a pressure campaign on Pyongyang to denuclearize.

Since his appointment as the US special representative for North Korea policy by the Obama administration in October 2016, Yun has been a key player in implementing US strategy and dealing with the limited bilateral relations maintained by the two countries.

US-North Korea relations became increasingly fraught in 2017 when Pyongyang tested long-range missiles it said could reach the US mainland and Washington spearheaded punitive sanctions against the Kim Jong Un regime.

Yun was also instrumental in securing the release of Otto Warmbier, an American college student detained in North Korea for more than a year. Yun and a medical team went to North Korea to pick him up last June.

Warmbier returned to the United States with significant brain damage and died just days later.

Questions

Yun's retirement raises further doubts over the Trump administration's North Korea policy.

The White House hasn't yet appointed an ambassador to South Korea. In January sources told CNN the long-rumored candidate, Victor Cha, would no longer be nominated. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Cha expressed opposition to the White House's consideration of limited military action in North Korea.

"This is the time where we need diplomats and Victor Cha is not there, Joseph Yun after Friday is not there," said Denmark. "There are still several terrific diplomats in place, but we need their voices to be prominent."

It's not clear to what extent President Trump is committed to diplomatic efforts to peacefully solve the North Korea nuclear crisis.

At a news conference Friday, Trump said if "if we can make a deal, it would be a great thing and if we can't, something will have to happen."

However, in October, the President appeared to dismiss the State Department's diplomatic efforts when he tweeted that Secretary Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Regardless of what (Yun's) reasons are, it is very clear that this administration and in particular the White House does not prioritize diplomacy in foreign policy in writ large and on North Korea in particular," said Michael Fuchs, a former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the State Department who worked directly with Yun.

"What really is concerning is the language that we've been hearing out of National Security Adviser (H.R.) McMaster and President Trump and others at the White House about the possibility of military action."

Yun has traveled the globe tackling North Korean issues, traveling everywhere from Southeast Asia to Russia. His former colleagues describe him as thoughtful, knowledgeable, prepared and funny -- the consummate diplomat.

"Without a doubt, this is a huge loss for the State Department and our policy on North Korea," said Fuchs.