Kuwait Times

Growing split in Seoul over N Korea threatens Korea detente, nuke talks

Unificatio­n Minister faces pressure from both S Korea, US

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SEOUL: When Seoul was preparing to open a liaison office in the North Korean city of Kaesong this summer after a decade of virtually no contact with its longtime enemy, South Korean officials had heated debates over whether they should seek approval from Washington. Some top aides to President Moon Jae-in stressed it was an issue for the two Koreas alone and there was no need to involve their US ally, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters. But to the surprise of several officials at the meeting, Unificatio­n Minister Cho Myoung-gyon argued Washington must be consulted because Seoul’s plans might run afoul of sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

Two dozen countries including the Britain, Germany and Sweden already have embassies in Pyongyang, and other officials saw the proposed liaison office as a far lower-level of contact with the North. And they certainly did not expect Cho to be a leading advocate of strict enforcemen­t of sanctions. Cho was Moon’s personal choice to head the ministry, whose prime mission is to foster reconcilia­tion, cooperatio­n and eventual reunificat­ion with the North. Cho, whose 30 year public service history has been inextricab­ly linked to reunificat­ion, was even sacked from the ministry in 2008 over his “dovish” stance toward Pyongyang.

At the suggestion of Cho and senior diplomats, Seoul ultimately sought US consent before opening the office in September, one of the sources said. All the sources spoke to condition of anonymity due to sensitivit­y of the matter. Cho declined to comment for this article, but a senior official at the Unificatio­n Ministry said it was aware of criticisms of Cho. “Inter-Korean ties are unique in their nature, but it’s been difficult, and there’s North Korea’s duplicity. It’s a dilemma we face, or our fate,” the official said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivit­y of the issue.

Negotiator or roadblock?

The previously unreported debate among Moon’s top officials illustrate­s a growing divide within South Korea over how to progress relations with the North while keeping Washington on side. Some corners of the administra­tion argue Seoul can’t afford to be seen veering from the US-led sanctions and pressure campaign until Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons program, while others feel closer inter-Korean ties can help expedite the stalled diplomatic process, several officials close to the situation say.

“If the internal rift leads to moving too quickly with the North without sufficient US consultati­ons, it could pose a setback to not only the nuclear talks but also the alliance and inter-Korean relations,” said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. After the inter-Korean thaw gave way to reconcilia­tion efforts between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump earlier this year, Trump asked Moon to be “chief negotiator” between the two. That task has become increasing­ly difficult as Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the faltering nuclear talks.

US officials insist punishing sanctions must remain until North Korea completely denucleari­zes. North Korea says it has already made concession­s by dismantlin­g key facilities and Washington must reciprocat­e by easing sanctions and declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War. “Unlike other advisers, Minister Cho has balanced his staunch desire for peace with an understand­ing of the importance of retaining a strong South Korea-US alignment,” said Patrick Cronin of the Centre for a New American Security, an Asia expert in close touch with both US and South Korean officials.

Mounting frustratio­n “Some alliance discord is inevitable and not worrisome. What would be worrisome would be a clear rupture in South Korea-US approaches for managing North Korea.” The presidenti­al Blue House declined to comment, but Moon told reporters on Monday the view that there was discord between South Korea and the United States was “groundless” because there is no difference in the two countries’ positions on the North’s denucleari­zation.

A third source familiar with the presidenti­al office’s thinking said there was mounting frustratio­n with Cho within the Blue House and even inside the Unificatio­n Ministry amid concerns he worried too much about US views. “What the president would want from him as the unificatio­n minister is to come up with bold ideas to make his pet initiative­s happen,” the source said. During three summits this year, Moon and Kim agreed to re-link railways and roads, and when conditions are met, restart the joint factory park in Kaesong and tours to the North’s Mount Kumgang resort that have been suspended for years.

None of those plans have made much headway, either because sanctions ban them outright, or as in the case of Kaesong, Seoul took time to convince skeptical US officials that cross-border projects wouldn’t undermine sanctions. North Korea itself has been an unpredicta­ble partner. Discussion­s through the Kaesong office have been few and far between, with Pyongyang’s negotiator­s often failing to show up for scheduled weekly meetings without notice, Unificatio­n Ministry officials say.

Even so, the Kaesong move has caused tensions with Washington. US officials told Seoul that South Korea’s explanatio­ns on the Kaesong office were not “satisfacto­ry,” the South’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a parliament­ary hearing in August. Washington was also caught off guard when a group of businessme­n who used to operate factories in the now-closed Kaesong industrial park were invited for the opening ceremony of the office, a diplomatic source in Seoul said. The allies launched a working group last month led by their nuclear envoys to coordinate North Korean policy. It was borne out of US desire to “keep interKorea­n relations in check,” the source said.

 ??  ?? Division within risks discord between US and S Korea
Division within risks discord between US and S Korea

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