Visit by senior aides seeks to advance nuclear talks
SEOUL — Top aides of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea arrived in North Korea on Monday and met its leader, Kim Jong Un, moving to improve inter-Korean relations and help start a dialogue between the North and the United States.
Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Euiyong, and the director of the National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon, were the first South Korean officials to meet Kim since he took power six years ago, a spokesman for Moon said. The two hope to learn directly from Kim whether the North is interested in negotiating an end to his nuclear weapons program through a dialogue with the United States.
After arriving, the South Korean envoys were invited to a meeting with Kim, Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, said during a news conference in Seoul. Kim was also hosting a dinner for the men, the first South Korean envoys to visit his country in 11 years, the spokesman said.
Moon and Kim both have said they want to use an opening created by the North’s participation in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, last month to improve inter-Korean ties.
But Washington remains deeply skeptical of any such attempt by the South without any progress in international efforts to end the North’s nuclear weapons program. Although he advocates dialogue with North Korea, Moon acknowledges that those two sets of efforts must move “in parallel” and has been urging the United States and North Korea to start negotiations on the nuclear program.
The aides’ two-day trip to the North reciprocates an earlier visit by Kim’s sister and special envoy, Kim Yo-jong, who met with Moon in Seoul last month and invited him on her brother’s behalf to visit the North.
After returning home from Pyongyang, the South Korean envoys will fly to Washington for follow-up discussions with the Trump administration.
Washington and Pyongyang remain far apart over the terms under which they would start such a dialogue, a gap that South Korea seeks to narrow.
The Trump administration says it is determined not to repeat what it calls the mistakes of its predecessors, who tried both dialogue and sanctions but failed to stop the North’s nuclear program. Washington now says it will enter negotiations with North Korea only after it commits to discussing denuclearization.
U.S. officials fear that North Korea is more interested in weakening sanctions that have begun biting the impoverished country than engaging in serious negotiations. Even if talks begin, they say, Washington will not stop its campaign of “maximum” pressure and sanctions until the North dismantles its nuclear weapons program.
But North Korea rejects any preconditions for talks, saying Washington must treat it like an “equal” nuclear power. It also insists that any talks with Washington would have to deal not only with its nuclear program but also with “hostile” U.S. policies, like the United States’ annual joint military exercises with the South.