Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

S. Korea security officials to visit North

- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will send both his national security adviser and top spy as special envoys on a one-day mission to Pyongyang on Wednesday ahead of a possible inter-Korean summit this month.

President Moon named a five-member delegation to North Korea on Sunday, led by National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong, Yonhap News Agency cited Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom as saying. The team includes National Intelligen­ce Service head Suh Hoon and Vice Unificatio­n Minister Chun Hae-sung.

South Korea’s presidenti­al office said it is unsure whether there will be a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the delegation’s visit, according to Yonhap.

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump calling off Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang last week, South Korea is moving forward with its plan to hold the third meeting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang this month.

Kim Eui-kyeom said it’s likely the date of the inter-Korean summit will be set during the special envoys’ trip and the delegation­s

will discuss agendas for the declaratio­n of the end of war and the denucleari­zation of the Korean Peninsula, according to Yonhap.

Separately, North Korea is pushing ahead with a new strategy of economic developmen­t and the intensifie­d diplomacy with China, South Korea and the United States that such a move requires. But hopes for a better future are mixed with concern over potential downsides of political or social volatility.

Even before announcing in January that he had sufficient­ly perfected his nuclear arsenal and could start to focus on other things, Kim Jong Un has held economic developmen­t to be his primary long-term concern.

He has allowed markets and entreprene­urialism to flourish and, since succeeding his father as leader seven years ago, has transforme­d the skyline of the capital, Pyongyang, with several high-rise districts.

As Kim prepares for the 70th anniversar­y of North Korea’s founding next Sunday, his ambitious developmen­t plan is being implemente­d, from the small-time renovation of town halls to the mobilizati­on of socalled soldier-builders, who are working around the clock to turn the remote northern city of Samjiyon into yet another showcase of Pyongyang-style socialism.

Economic developmen­t — and how U.S. capital and knowhow could speed it along — was Trump’s big carrot when he met with Kim in Singapore three months ago to try to negotiate a denucleari­zation deal.

But it has been reported that Kim’s diplomatic overtures aren’t intended to open the door to American capitalist­s. They are aimed at breaking down support for sanctions and getting the U.S. to step out of the way.

In the meantime, the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea has begun churning out paeans to socialism in its daily newspaper along with anti-capitalism, anti-imperialis­m screeds that underscore North Korea’s official opposition to essentiall­y anything that might be considered the American way of life.

The past few months have been tense in Pyongyang.

Restrictio­ns on some of the movements of foreign diplomats have been tightened, and requests by The Associated Press to interview government officials or to speak with regular citizens have mostly been denied.

State-run media have provided only limited coverage of Kim’s meetings with Trump in June and his multiple summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon. Reports have portrayed Kim as the consummate statesman, firmly in charge of a carefully considered strategy to make his country safer and more prosperous.

Kim is wooing South Korean investment to help him build the things Trump was offering: infrastruc­ture, particular­ly roads and railways, and the developmen­t of selected tourism zones.

Pyongyang’s explanatio­n for the shift in its foreign policy has been consistent: Having successful­ly built a credible nuclear deterrent to U.S. aggression, Kim is reaching out to Seoul to join hands in a “for Koreans, by Koreans” effort to secure a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, unhindered by the meddling of foreign powers.

Informatio­n for this article was contribute­d by Sohee Kim of Bloomberg News; and by Eric Talmadge of The Associated Press.

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