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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the former’s fourth visit to Pyongyang on Oct. 7. (Pompeo’s Twitter account)
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Potential compromise on swapping NK’s denuclearization for US’ end-of-war declaration
On Oct. 7, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had reached an agreement to hold the second summit between the leaders of the two countries as soon as possible. He also said that both sides will be setting up working-level teams of negotiators to deliberate the North Korean denuclearization process and the schedule of the North Korea-US summit. This is prompting speculation that a concrete agreement has been reached on key agenda items, including North Korea’s denuclearization and an end-of-war declaration. This was part of the briefing that South Korean President Moon Jae-in received at the Blue House from Pompeo about his meeting with Kim during Pompeo’s visit to North Korea on Sunday morning, according to Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan. Pompeo said that North Korea and the US agreed to continue deliberations aimed at determining the specific timing and location of the second summit. Significantly, Pompeo was also quoted by the Blue House as saying that there had been a discussion of the North’s denuclearization measures, observation by the US government, and corresponding measures by the US. But when asked whether the second summit would take place before the US midterm elections on Nov. 6, who would be on the working-level team of negotiators and what plans there were for observation by the US government, the Blue House declined to comment further. After listening to Pompeo’s briefing, Moon said he hopes the second North Korea-US summit will be a big success and promised that Seoul would do everything in its power during that process, the Blue House reported. After meeting with Moon earlier, Pompeo had said that his visit to North Korea that day had gone very well and that there had been productive dialogue. Pompeo also noted that it was possible to say another step had been taken on Sunday. Moon and Pompeo’s 38-minute meeting began at 6:56 pm and ended at 7:34 pm. After completing his trip to North Korea, Pompeo tweeted a photo of walking alongside Kim at 5:20 pm and wrote, “Had a good trip to [Pyongyang] to meet with Chairman Kim. We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit.” Kim was also reportedly satisfied with the summit. The Washington Post and other US media outlets reported that Kim and Pompeo had held deliberations for about two hours and then lunched together for 90 minutes. Kim was quoted as saying over lunch that “It’s a very nice day that promises a good future for both countries.” Given North Korea and the US’s agreement to hold a summit soon and their positive assessments of Pompeo’s visit, pundits are suggesting that a substantial compromise was reached on key issues including swapping North Korea’s denuclearization for an end-of-war declaration and concluding a peace treaty between the two sides. This is also likely to create momentum for Moon’s “Pyongyang plan,” which envisions the following sequence of events: a North Korea-US summit; an end-of-war declaration by South Korea, North Korea and the US; and Kim paying a return visit to Seoul. By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
