Biden administration advised to recognize Singapore statement

Former Unification Ministers Jeong Se-hyun, left, and Lee Jong-seok, right, with Joseph Yun on screen, a former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, participate in a session of the International Symposium on Sustainable Peace on the Korean Peninsula, at Yonsei University in Seoul, Thursday. The five-session event was co-hosted by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) and the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. / Courtesy of Korean Culture and Information Service

By Kang Seung-woo

Following the leadership change in the United States this coming January, there is a consensus that it will take several months before the Joe Biden administration develops its policy toward North Korea, during which Pyongyang is expected to dust off the old playbook of provocations to capture the new American president's attention.

To stop the historically vicious cycle that has happened in the first year of the last few U.S. governments, Joseph Yun, a former U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, advised the incoming U.S. administration to recognize the Singapore joint statement, signed by U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June 2018 following their first summit.

The statement highlights that the two sides would make joint efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, while the North would commit to complete denuclearization of the peninsula.

"What the Biden team has to do as soon as possible ― hopefully even before the inauguration day, Jan. 20 ― is to send a message to North Korea," Yun said remotely during a session of the International Symposium on Sustainable Peace on the Korean Peninsula, co-hosted by the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) and the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies.

"If they cannot do it before Jan. 20, then very soon afterward, and that message ideally should contain two scenarios," he said. "The first is that the Biden administration acknowledges and recognizes the Singapore joint statement between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. This is the highest-level statement by two leaders of the two countries, and really if you look at the statement, there is nothing bad about it. It calls on North Korea to completely denuclearize; it calls on North Korea and the U.S. to move to a better relationship; it calls on North Korea and the U.S. to walk toward a peace agreement and peace regime."

He added, "So I really don't see why the Biden administration should not acknowledge or recognize that and if they recognize it, I think that would be the first step toward opening the door to negotiations."

Yun, a Korean American diplomat who worked for the administrations of both Barack Obama and Trump, also said Biden's recognition would pave the way for the North Korean regime to also follow its past highest-level statements with South Korea and the U.S., such as the Panmunjeom Declaration with President Moon Jae-in in 2018 and one in 2000 between former President Bill Clinton and Cho Myong-rok, then-vice chairman of the North's National Defense Commission.

"These joint statements are all meaningful because they include language on denuclearization and so I think that would be acceptable to the Biden administration, and South Korea as well as Washington should press the Biden administration to accept the Singapore joint statement and I think that can be done. I am optimistic," he said.

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Yun also stressed the importance of the South Korean government's role in dissuading the North from welcoming a new U.S. president with a missile launch or a nuclear test.

"Whether we can persuade North Korea to be patient and this is I think where South Korea can be an intermediary between the U.S. and North Korea. I do believe in the short term, this is a role for South Korea to be an intermediary to persuade North Korea to give the new Biden administration a chance to come up with a roadmap and come up with a negotiation map," he said.

Former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said the Biden administration needs to leverage inter-Korean relations in resolving North Korean nuclear issues.

"The Trump administration had a negative view on improved inter-Korean relations amid no progress in denuclearization discussions and prevented inter-Korean relations from improving. However, this was the wrong perspective and poor judgment," Lee said.

Citing the rapprochement between the two Koreas in the spring of 2018, Lee said it "led to improved U.S.-North Korea relations and drove denuclearization discussions."

The experts did not agree with the speculation that human rights issues in the North may pose a threat to the denuclearization talks between the North and the U.S. under the incoming Biden administration.

"Biden and his team will be completely realistic that by emphasizing human rights in terms of negotiations, it is tough to make progress. So given their pragmatism and their knowledge of North Korea, I do expect the cry for human rights, adherence for human rights, will not be as much as we currently think," Yun said.

Moon Chung-in, President Moon's special adviser on foreign affairs and national security, said in another session of the symposium that South Korea should pay more attention to the U.S. over China amid the intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.

"We will be in a very difficult position. The United States is our ally and China is our strategic cooperative partner. We need both, but obviously we should give more attention to the alliance rather than a strategic partner. We will be agonizing over the choice," Moon said.

"The most desirable scenario for us is that the U.S. and China should avoid this new Cold War confrontation and I think they can avoid it. As Robert Gallucci pointed out, the Biden administration will change its rhetorical tone from enemy to rival."

Harry Kazianis, a senior director of Korean studies at the Center for the National Interest, also said the Biden administration will attempt to maintain a more moderate tone in dealing with the Chinese.

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