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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US Vice President at an ASEAN-related summit in Singapore on Nov. 15. (Blue House photo pool)
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S. Korean president promises to communicate closely with N. Korea during denuclearization talks
During a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence on Nov. 15, South Korean President Moon Jae-in promised to communicate closely with North Korea and the US during their negotiations leading up to their second summit and to continue to play an active role with the goal of denuclearization and improving North Korea-US relations, the Blue House announced. While visiting Singapore to attend an ASEAN-related summit, Moon and Pence met at the Suntec convention center on Thursday morning and had a 35-minute discussion on Korean Peninsula affairs and the state of preparations for the second North Korea-US summit. “Vice President Pence asked President Moon to communicate more closely with North Korea. In the context [of the dialogue], my understanding is that North Korea-US dialogue is progressing as well and that President Moon was given this additional request as part of that,” Blue House Spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum said during the daily press briefing. The US has apparently asked Moon to help mediate a breakthrough in North Korea-US negotiations, which have broken down after the second summit was pushed back until next year and working-level talks scheduled for Nov. 8 were canceled. “President Moon and Vice President Pence shared the view that inter-Korean relations, denuclearization and North Korea-US dialogue form a virtuous cycle that enables progress and agreed to continue working together closely toward that end,” Kim said. Pence proposed that South Korea and the US continue to persuade North Korea to commit itself to denuclearization, Kim related. But Kim said that no mention was made of easing sanctions or formally ending the Korean War. He also added that the two leaders “had a concrete and practical discussion about the pressing issue of the second North Korea-US summit and working-level negotiations aimed at organizing that summit” but that they didn’t get into the details of the summit’s timing or location. Pence sticks to position of totally implementing sanctions against North Korea While speaking to reporters following his meeting with Moon, Pence said that the US respects the discussions that have taken place between South and North Korea, according to a story filed by the White House reporter pool. At the same time, Pence appears to have asked Moon to totally implement sanctions against the North. A story by the White House reporting pool said that Pence reconfirmed that the US wants to avoid the “mistakes of the past,” while noting that the US had lifted sanctions and provided economic assistance to North Korea because it had believed promises that were eventually broken. Pence said that South Korea promised to faithfully implement all UN resolutions and sanctions. He added that the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was likely to take place after Jan. 1, 2019. While the Blue House initially said that “the issue of sanctions was not a matter for discussion,” objections that this clashed with the White House’s report prompted a further explanation. The Blue House added that Moon had said, “It’s necessary to specifically show North Korea the bright future and the benefits it can enjoy if it denuclearizes by continuing to promote exchange, cooperation and improvement of inter-Korean ties under close communication and cooperation between South Korea and the US and within the framework of international sanctions.” In his opening remarks, Moon said that “inter-Korean relations and North Korea-US relations need to be developed in tandem in order to bring about lasting peace [on the Korean Peninsula].” Pence replied that it would be necessary to keep working toward the ultimate goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization and that, while there had been many developments, there was still much work left to do. By Kim Bo-hyeop and Yi Yong-in, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
