Negative signs seen for nuclear talks

From left are North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump. Yonhap-Korea Times file

By Jung Da-min

While President Moon Jae-in was visiting Washington with a mission to maintain the momentum of talks between the U.S. and North Korea, there are few signs the two will narrow their differences over denuclearization.

A day ahead of the summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told U.S. lawmakers that the United Nations sanctions on North Korea should remain in place, although he would be a bit more flexible if substantial progress is made during negotiations.

On the same day, North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un told members of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee that there was a need to more vigorously advance socialist construction "under the uplifted banner of self-reliance," so as to deal a telling blow to the hostile forces imposing sanctions.

Pompeo was speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing while Kim was presiding over the fourth Plenary Meeting of the seventh Central Committee of the WPK. Kim addressed the changing international landscape and clarified North Korea's stand toward its recent summit with the U.S., according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The recent U.S.-North Korea summit ruptured after North Korea demanded that all U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed since 2016 be lifted in return for the partial closure of a key nuclear facility in Yongbyon, while the U.S. side demanded complete and verifiable denuclearization before the sanctions relief.

The Moon administration, tasked with bridging the gap between the U.S. and North Korea, had suggested an alternate idea of a "small deal," partial sanctions relief and phased denuclearization of North Korea, while seeking sanctions relief for inter-Korean projects, such as the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and Mount Geumgang resort.

Experts based in Seoul and Washington, however, pointed out that Seoul's approach lacked understanding of what both North Korea and the U.S. wanted from South Korea, and accordingly, the April 11 summit between Moon and Trump would not bear substantial results.

David Kim, a former State Department nonproliferation and East Asia desk official and a research analyst with the Stimson Center's Weapons of Massive Destruction, Nonproliferation and Security program, said he felt there was a gap in understanding between Seoul and Washington on the essence of denuclearization negotiations.

"Seoul doesn't see the heart of the negotiations as being solely predicated upon denuclearization while Washington — and people like Bolton — only seem to care about denuclearization and less about setting up a sustainable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," Kim told The Korea Times, Thursday, hours before the U.S.-South Korea summit, referring to U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton's hardline stance toward North Korea.

An Asia policy expert in Washinton also said he spoke with a top U.S. administration official a few days ago and the official brushed aside the phased approach endorsed by the administration of Moon, while a Cheong Wa Dae official he recently met strongly pointed to the inter-Korean process as a way to move forward the stalled denuclearization negotiations.

The expert was speaking with The Korea Times on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Meanwhile, the working-level talks between the U.S. and North Korea also seemed to be stalled, according to a report by Washington Post on Wednesday (local time).

The report said a proposal by the U.S. to resume working-level talks had brought no reply from the North yet, citing an Asia policy expert in Washington on the condition of anonymity. It said the expert was briefed by administration officials.

South Korea's role as the mediator between the U.S. and North Korea also faced a challenge, as the U.S. lawmakers expressed concerns saying South Korea is an ally to the U.S. not a party in between the U.S. and North Korea.

According to Voice of America, Wednesday (local time), U.S. Senate members expressed concerns over South Korea's expectations that it would take the role of mediator while seeking partial sanctions exemptions, saying it could cause a rift in the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

"The South Koreans and the United States are partners in this negotiation, and the alliance between South Korea and the United States is an integral component of denuclearization and peace on the peninsula," said Cory Gardner, the Colorado Republican who chairs the Subcommittee on East Asia.

"I think both South Korea and the United States obviously want denuclearization. I think the pace of that can be negotiated and worked out. I don't support relieving pressure until we have that denuclearization or concrete steps toward it."

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