N.Korea seeks complete denuclearisation: Moon

Kim desires economic growth

SEOUL/GENEVA, April 19, (Agencies): North Korea has expressed its commitment to “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula and is not seeking conditions, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Thursday, as the United States vowed to maintain “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.

Moon said big-picture agreements about denuclearisation, establishing a peace regime and normalisation of relations between the two Koreas and the United States should not be difficult to reach through summits between the North and South, and between the North and the United States.

“I don’t think denuclearisation has different meanings for South and North Korea. The North is expressing a will for a complete denuclearisation,” Moon said during a lunch with chief executives of Korean media companies.

“They have not attached any conditions that the US cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. All they are talking about is the end of hostile policies against North Korea, followed by a guarantee of security.”

North Korea has defended its nuclear and missile programmes, which it pursues in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, as a necessary deterrent against perceived US hostility. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea has said over the years that it could consider giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

South Korea announced on Wednesday that it is considering how to change a decades-old armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement as it prepares for the North-South summit this month.

Reclusive North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Moon said he saw the possibility of a peace agreement, or even international aid for the North’s economy, if it denuclearises.

Moon

Constraints

But he also said the inter-Korean summit had “a lot of constraints”, in that the two Koreas could not make progress separate from the North Korea-United States summit, and could not reach an agreement that transcends international sanctions.

“So first, the South-North Korean summit must make a good beginning, and the dialogue between the two Koreas likely must continue after we see the results of the North Korea-United States summit,” Moon said.

US CIA Director Mike Pompeo visited North Korea last week and met leader Kim Jong Un with whom he formed a “good relationship”, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ahead of a summit planned for May or June.

Trump said on Wednesday he hoped the summit would be successful, but warned he would call it off if he did not think it would produce results.

Trump told a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that his campaign of “maximum pressure” on North Korea would continue until Pyongyang gave up its nuclear weapons.

“The United States remains committed to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearsisation of North Korea,” US Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood told a news conference in Geneva on Thursday ahead of a two-week conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“In terms of the pressure campaign, things we are very interested in are maintaining the pressure, meaning enforcing sanctions, ensuring that the North is not able to get access to funds that help further his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.”

China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing in Beijing that China supported ending the state of war on the Korean peninsula.

“China supports ending the war state on the peninsula at an early date,” she said. “As a party involved in the peninsula issue, China is willing to play an active role.”

Ahead of next week’s summit, Seoul and Pyongyang will also complete the instalment of a telephone hotline between the two leaders on Friday, directly connecting the South’s presidential Blue House and the North’s State Affairs Commission, the South’s presidential spokesman said.

Summit

Six top South Korean officials will accompany Moon to the summit, including his chief of staff, spy chief, national security adviser and unification, defence and foreign ministers, the spokesman said.

North Korea meanwhile will hold a plenary meeting of its ruling party’s central committee on Friday, state media KCNA said on Thursday.

The meeting was convened to discuss and decide “policy issues of a new stage” to meet the demands of the current “important historic period”, KCNA said.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un likely decided to put his nuclear weapons program up for negotiation to win outside rewards so he can improve his country’s economy, win public trust at home and prolong his leadership, a special adviser to the South Korean president said Tuesday.

Moon Chung-in, a retired Yonsei University professor who is an adviser to President Moon Jae-in on inter-Korean and security issues, shared his assessment in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Kim is to hold separate summit talks in coming weeks with the South Korean leader and US President Donald Trump.

After sharply raising regional tensions with a series of nuclear and missile tests last year, Kim has been reaching out to Seoul and Washington this year, prompting speculation over why he is doing so just as he appears close to achieving his objective of developing nuclear missiles capable of targeting the US mainland. Some experts say harsh UN sanctions or fears of US strikes could have driven Kim to initiate the peace offensive.

Moon Chung-in said Kim’s desire to improve livelihoods at home by developing the economy while bolstering his nuclear capacity, could be his motive for the recent outreach.

Although Kim is the absolute leader in North Korea, “he still cannot survive if he fails to win the hearts and minds of his own people,” Moon said. “If he fails to make his people happy, the safety of the North Korean system cannot be guaranteed. How can nuclear weapons guarantee that?”