Prospect for talks

N. Korea should make progress in denuclearization

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun will visit South Korea for three days from today. His visit raises hopes for the resumption of working-level nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang. The North should no longer delay the talks to keep its commitment to denuclearization and to speed up peace-making on the peninsula.

During their sudden meeting at the truce village of Panmunjeom on June 30, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to restart the stalled negotiations as early as July. But the North has delayed holding working-level talks in protest of a joint South Korea-U.S. military exercise.

Biegun’s trip falls on the last day of the exercise. It can be said conditions are ripe for dialogue as the obstacle is cleared. Also brightening the prospect for talks is Kim’s letter sent to Trump early this month. In the letter, Kim expressed his hope to restart working-level negotiations soon after the joint drill ends.

Beigun may contact North Korean officials at Panmunjeom during his stay in the South. If such a contact were made, the two sides can open the way for a new phase of talks to discuss how to denuclearize the North in return for security guarantees and other benefits. First of all, both countries should narrow their differences. The North should make substantive progress in denuclearization before asking for sanctions relief.

Yet skepticism still prevails over the North’s real intentions. There will be a bumpy road ahead for what the U.S. wants to achieve: complete and verifiable denuclearization. This explains why Seoul and Washington should cooperate more closely to realize their shared goal of making the North nuclear-free and settling peace on the peninsula.

But the two allies should be careful not to play into the hands of the Kim regime which is trying to drive a wedge between them. The North has so far this year test-fired what appeared to be short-ranged ballistic missiles on eight occasions.

Six of the tests came last month and this month. The latest took place last Friday, the day after the 74th anniversary of liberation from Japan’s colonial rule. Those provocations cannot be dismissed as saber-rattling to protest the combined exercise between the South and the U.S.

What’s more serious is Pyongyang’s renewed attempts to sideline Seoul in denuclearization talks. The North has even threatened to stop dialogue with the South. It has also gone too far in lambasting President Moon Jae-in and his policymakers in a statement full of ridicule and derision. Pyongyang must have felt no need for Moon’s mediating role because it can now negotiate with Washington directly.

Against this backdrop, Biegun’s visit should serve as an opportunity not only to resume dialogue with Pyongyang, but also to beef up the alliance with Seoul.

The Trump administration needs to put more value on the alliance than on forcing the South to pay far more for defense cost sharing.