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South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with US President Trump after a joint press conference at the Blue House on Nov. 17, 2017. (Blue House photo pool)
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Seoul needs to be the bridge between Washington, DC, and Pyongyang
The summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump will be taking place at the White House on May 22. It is inevitable for attention to focus on this meeting since it will be held before the North Korea-US summit, which is expected to be a watershed moment in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and establishing a permanent peace. During their meeting, the two leaders are likely to confirm the results of the inter-Korean summit on Apr. 27 and make the final adjustments to the agenda of the North Korea-US summit. Once again, all eyes are on Moon’s position in the driver’s seat of the Korean Peninsula. The South Korea-US summit was originally scheduled for the middle of May, but as preparations for the North Korea-US summit accelerated, there were even predictions that the South Korea-US summit would be skipped altogether. But now that the summit’s schedule has been fixed for May 22, it is increasingly likely that the North Korea-US summit will be held at the end of May or in early June. The fast pace has faltered somewhat, and given the importance of the upcoming summit, one cannot help but pay close attention to subtle changes in the mood. The fact that Trump delayed the announcement of the date and location of the summit after saying on May 4 and 5 they had been decided also piques one’s curiosity. Given Trump’s appreciation for reality television, he may merely be angling to maximize the dramatic effect, but this may also mean that North Korea and the US have failed to narrow their differences. In connection with this, there are also reports that there has been a delay of the release of the three Americans detained in North Korea that was supposed to occur at the end of last week. Another troubling fact is that North Korea’s Foreign Ministry sent an unusual warning message to the US on May 6 protesting the fact that the US is still pressuring the North about human rights and maintaining its military threat. As the “guide” for North Korea and the US, the South Korean government needs to respond by taking a close look at these events to see whether a devil is hiding in the details. The method of implementing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is sure to be the biggest issue at the South Korea-US summit on May 22. Seoul needs to orchestrate a grand bargain by bridging the gaps that remain between North Korea and the US in regard to the method of achieving complete denuclearization. Clarification is also needed about whether the “permanent, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” mentioned by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the same as the previously discussed “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.” Trump has said that he “welcomes” the declaration of the end of the war to which South and North Korea basically agreed during their summit at Panmunjeom on Apr. 27, but it is necessary to line up his definite support for that. And while this is not a key agenda item for the South Korea-US summit, the controversy about the removal of US troops from South Korea that was suddenly provoked by reports in the American press needs to be cleared up, too. Following the inter-Korean summit, Moon arranged support and cooperation for the Panmunjeom Declaration through “telephone diplomacy” with the leaders of the four neighboring powers around the Korean Peninsula. But the final deal about the denuclearization issue will have to be made during the North Korea-US summit. Seoul must make full use of its foreign policy and security channels prior to this summit while doing its best to narrow the gap between the two sides. The South Korea-US summit that will be held two weeks from now must show that these efforts have paid off. Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
