President Moon finalizing selection of special envoy to North Korea

National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon

A priority is determining the willingness of North Korea to hold dialogue with the US

Early next week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will reportedly be announcing the selection of National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon or Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong to lead a special delegation to North Korea. Sources say that the delegation could visit the North as early as the middle of next week.

“Since [President Moon] said it would happen soon, it probably won’t be that long,” a senior official at the Blue House said on Mar. 2 in regard to the timing of the delegation’s visit to North Korea.

During a telephone call with US President Donald Trump on the evening of Mar. 1, Moon said he was planning to send a special envoy to North Korea soon in response to the visit by North Korean special envoy Kim Yo-jong. Suh and Chung are reportedly being considered to lead the delegation, with Moon still mulling over his final decision.

The current odds are on Suh, who is both a close confidante of Moon’s and very familiar with inter-Korean relations. But since the special envoy will have to engage in follow-up discussions with the US after visiting Pyongyang, another option that is reportedly on the table is including both of these key officials on the delegation, with Chung as the head, given his long-standing communication with the White House, and Suh in charge of the practical matters.

“North Korea suddenly sent a delegation to South Korea with a rank and scale incomparable to the past. We will be dispatching a high-ranking delegation of our own,” said a senior official at the Blue House. This implies that South Korea will be matching the rank of the North Korean officials who recently visited the South: Kim Yo-jong, first vice director of the central committee of the North Korean Workers' Party and younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un; Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly; and Kim Yong-chol, director of the United Front Department.

Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong

The delegation’s mission will be to communicate Moon’s plan for peace on the Korean Peninsula to Kim Jong-un and to sound out Kim’s thoughts on denuclearization and talks with the US. “We’re going to say what we want to say and also listen to what they have to say. We need to confirm the extent of their determination [to talk with the US],” a senior Blue House official said.

“President Trump and President Moon noted their firm position that any dialogue with North Korea must be conducted with the explicit and unwavering goal of complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization,” the White House said in a statement about Moon and Trump’s phone call released on Mar. 1.

“The ultimate goal is to denuclearize the Peninsula… And we’re excited about any steps moving forward in that process,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders during the daily press briefing.

By Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporter and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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