US, N. Korea cover over 12 items in pre-summit talks

S. Korea pushes back at Trump

TOKYO, Feb 13, (Agencies): The US and North Korea covered more than a dozen items in their pre-summit talks last week, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday, citing the top US negotiator.

In a meeting with South Korean parliamentary delegation in Washington, US Special Representative for North Korea

has shared some details of his talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang last week, the report said.

Biegun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol are charged with hammering out the agenda and logistics of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb 27-28. “From the start of the meetings, we agreed with the North Koreans that this time we would not negotiate but make our respective positions clear,” Biegun told a delegation member earlier this week. “We discussed more than a dozen issues and we will work together to implement” the commitments made at the first Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in June, he also said, according to the delegation.

At the first summit, Trump and Kim committed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees for Pyongyang.

The specific items will likely be subject to further discussion at the next set of pre-summit talks, reportedly to take place in an Asian country next week. But the list could include North Korea’s closure of its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon in exchange for partial sanctions relief from the US or a declaration formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War.

Biegun was also quoted as telling the delegation that he expects to start penning the text of the joint summit statement at his next meeting with the North Koreans.

Biegun

Comments

Meanwhile, South Korea’s presidential Blue House pushed back on Wednesday against comments by US President Donald Trump that suggested Seoul had agreed to pay $500 million more towards maintaining US troops in the country.

Trump said at a cabinet meeting in Washington on Tuesday Seoul had agreed to pay $500 million more as part of an agreement sharing the cost of keeping roughly 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea.

“They were paying about $500 million for $5 billion worth of protection,” Trump said. “And we have to do better than that. So they’ve agreed to pay $500 million more.”

Under the previous agreement - which lapsed amid disagreements in December - South Korea contributed 960 billion won ($857 million) in 2018.

South Korean and American officials initialled an agreement on Sunday under which Seoul would increase its contribution to just under 1.04 trillion won ($927 million), an increase of about $70.3 million.

Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul, said when asked about Trump’s $500 million figure that it “shouldn’t be taken as a fait accompli”.

Washington demanded during the negotiations that South Korea pay 50 percent more than its 2018 contribution, according to South Korean officials. The new agreement amounts to an increase of about 8 percent.

The agreement signed on Sunday must still be approved by South Korea’s parliament. Kim said it was valid for only one year, with the possibility of an extension for another year if both sides agreed.

“Both sides will consider whether a raise is needed and it’s also possible that they would agree to maintain the current level,” Kim said.

The two sides had struggled to reach a breakthrough, despite at least 10 rounds of talks since March, amid Trump’s repeated calls for a sharp increase in South Korea’s contribution.

Trump said in his cabinet comments on Tuesday the relationship with South Korea was “great” but that the United States lost “a tremendous amount of money” defending its ally.

U.S. Republicans and Democrats joined together on Tuesday to tout the long alliance between Japan, South Korea and the United States, hoping to reinforce the trilateral relationship amid an intensifying feud between Tokyo and Seoul.

Members of the House of Representatives and Senate from both parties introduced resolutions in the two chambers affirming Congress’ strong support for ties between the three countries and the critical importance of cooperation.

Relations between Japan and South Korea have chilled recently due to disputes over their wartime history, including Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula, as well as allegations of provocations by each country’s military.

Dispute

The dispute threatens regional efforts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program, just weeks before US President Donald Trump is to hold a second summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28.

“With so much at stake ... it is critical that we maintain a responsible path forward,” Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and a co-sponsor of the measure, said in a statement.

The measures were introduced by Engel and Representative Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as top Senate Foreign Relations Democrat Bob Menendez and the leaders from both parties of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Asia subcommittees.

Furthermore, A top US commander said Tuesday that he has not seen any effort by North Korea to curtail its nuclear weapons program since President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met for nuclear talks last year. Army Gen. Robert Abrams testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee ahead of Trump’s second meeting with Kim later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam. The US hopes North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for an end to punishing international sanctions.

Abrams called the second meeting a “positive sign of continued dialogue,” but added, “We have not observed activity that’s consistent with a full-court press on denuclearization.”

He said there has been a reduction in tensions along the Korean Demilitarized Zone - the buffer zone between North and South Korea - and cited the North’s decision to stop missile tests and other provocative actions, but said, “Little to no verifiable change has occurred in North Korea’s military capabilities.”

Abrams noted it has been some 440 days since North Korea conducted a missile test or a nuclear weapons explosion. But he said North Korea’s existing capabilities, along with its continued development of advanced conventional systems, remain unchecked.

“The only observable change has been a reduction in the attention and bellicosity the regime layers onto its military activities. Since the end of 2017, Pyongyang has reduced its hostile rhetoric and halted media coverage of Kim Jong Un’s attending capstone events such as large-scale, live-fire training or special operations raids on mock-up alliance targets,” Abrams said.

“It is, however, too soon to conclude that a lower profile is indicative of lesser risk,” Abrams said.

He advised the committee to maintain a force in the region to deter any possible aggression by North Korea against the United States, South Korea or regional allies. There are about 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.