 |
|
President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook stand during the playing of the South Korean national anthem at the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony on Feb. 25. In the front row are President Moon, Kim, Ivanka Trump, Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong, and Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Sye-kyun. In the back from (from right) are Kim Yong-chol, Vice Chairman of the Korean Workers‘ Party (KWP) Central Committee, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Lee Jin-sung, USFK Commander General Vincent Brooks, a translator, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su. (Photo Pool)
|
President Moon pushing for progress on inter-Korean relations
On Feb. 25, South Korean President Moon Jae-in met with Kim Yong-chol, Vice Chairman of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) Central Committee and director of the KWP United Front Department during Kim’s visit to the South and called for North Korea and the US to quickly hold talks to resolve issues on the Korean Peninsula. In response, Kim Yong-chol said that the North is “completely willing to sit down to talks with the US.” Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum said that Moon entertained Kim Yong-chol and Ri Son-gwon, chair of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, at an undisclosed location in Pyeongchang between 5 and 6 pm before the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. “During President Moon’s meeting with North Korea’s high-level delegation, including Kim Yong-chol and Ri Son-gwon, they shared their views about inter-Korean relations overall,” Kim Eui-kyum said. Also representing South Korea at that meeting were Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon. No photos of the meeting were made public, a cautious move that was apparently motivated by the conservative establishment’s backlash to Kim Yong-chol’s visit to South Korea. During the meeting, Moon said that “there needs to be progress and sweeping expansion of inter-Korean relations in the future,” and the North Korean delegation said that “State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un is resolved to do the same thing.” After greeting North Korea’s entire eight-person delegation, Moon moved to a separate location for a conversation with Kim Yong-chol and Ri Son-gwon, accompanied by Blue House National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong and National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon. The apparent reason that Kim Yong-chol said during his meeting with Moon that North Korea is willing to engage in dialogue with the US is because the North believes that no qualitative progress can be made in inter-Korean relations as long as North Korea and the US remain in the extreme confrontation in which they currently find themselves. Considering that the North Korean nuclear weapon and missile program is bound to be on the agenda of any North Korea-US talks, one possible interpretation of North Korea’s remarks is that they indirectly show that the North is willing to put the nuclear weapon and missile program on the negotiating table. During the meeting on Feb. 25, there was no disagreement between South and North Korea about the need to expand and develop inter-Korean relations, which have begun moving toward complete rapprochement during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. “I appreciate that North Korea helped keep the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics safe by sending congratulatory delegations to both the opening and closing ceremonies of the games. In particular, the creation of a unified inter-Korean women’s hockey team and the joint entrance into the games made a big impression on people around the world,” Moon said. A need for bilateral North Korea-US dialogue On Feb. 25, Moon also emphasized the need to hold North Korea-US dialogue before long. Prior to this, Moon has emphasized on several occasions that improving inter-Korean relations and finding a fundamental solution to Korean Peninsular issues, including the North Korean nuclear issue, will require both inter-Korean dialogue as well as a virtuous cycle in North Korea-US dialogue. Moon’s response to an invitation to visit the North delivered by KWP Central Committee First Vice Director Kim Yo-jong, who was sent to the South as a special envoy for Kim Jong-un on Feb. 10, appears to have been made in the same context. Moon told Kim Yo-jong that the two sides should “create the right conditions to make that a reality.” The fact that the North Korean delegation made clear during the meeting on Feb. 25 that the North is willing to engage in dialogue with the US is a meaningful change. Until now, the North has rejected dialogue with the US, insisting that no such dialogue can take place as long as the US maintains its “hostile policy toward the North” and that it “will not beg for dialogue.” This North Korean delegation reportedly said that it “has the same idea” about the need to improve both inter-Korean relations and North Korea-US relations. This suggests that Pyongyang is likely to respond positively to Seoul’s efforts to bring about North Korea-US dialogue. Experts regard these messages from North Korea as a “green light” indicating that exploratory dialogue on a rudimentary level can take place between North Korea and the US. “For now, I think that there could be exploratory dialogue between North Korea and the US,” said Handong University professor Kim Joon-hyung. “If Kim Yong-chol said that, it appears to be a positive sign. In its own way, North Korea has shown that it’s serious,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. US response remains unclear The important thing is how the US will take North Korea’s message. Thus far, the US has indicated the possibility of “dialogue without precondition” with North Korea while clearly stating that it will not make the first move. “The fact is that if North Korea wants to have talks, it could indicate as much through its New York channel. The apparent reason it has not done so is because the tug-of-war between North Korea and the US is still continuing,” the official added. Some government officials expect that the US will pay attention to the remarks that Kim Yong-chol and the other members of the delegation make during the remainder of their visit to the South and that it might later try to hold deliberations through the New York channel. By Jung In-hwan, Seong Yeon-cheol and Kim Ji-eun, staff reporters Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
