Moon avoids Kim summit questions

KCNA blasts Pence for ‘criminal behaviour’

PYEONGCHANG: South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hopes his efforts to engage rival North Korea at the Olympics will also lead to better ties between the North and its other major rival, Washington, as well as help set up talks on ridding the North of its nuclear bombs.

But Mr Moon wouldn’t answer a question about what needs to happen before he’ll take North Korean dictator Kim Jongun up on his invitation for a summit. He earlier said “let’s not get too far ahead” on a summit, according to his office.

Mr Moon has yet to accept the North Korean offer, which was delivered on Feb 10 by Mr Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong. He’s only said that the Koreas should “create an environment” for talks.

There’s a reason for his caution: the United States.

Mr Moon likely wants his talks with the North to be accompanied with warming ties between Pyongyang and Washington so there’s less chance of aliening the South’s most crucial ally, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter an attack by the North.

Some conservatives worry that North Korea’s friendly overtures to Seoul are meant to push Washington farther away from its southern rival.

This, the North may hope, will ruin US President Donald Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure”, which is focused on slapping more isolating sanctions on the most sanctioned country on Earth.

“We are hoping that the ongoing talks between the South and North will lead to talks between the United States and North Korea and eventually to [North Korean] denuclearisation dialogue,” Mr Moon told reporters at the Olympics media centre in Pyeongchang.

Mr Moon said on Saturday that a women’s hockey team of both North and South Koreans, a squad of North Korean cheerleaders (229 of them, all women) and an opening ceremony that saw both Koreas march together under a flag that showed a single Korea have moved Koreans and people around the world.

He also noted that “a consensus is starting to build that there’s also a need for talks between the US and North Korea”.

On that count, there remain obstacles to overcome.

The Pyongyang regime’s official news agency, KCNA, issued a dispatch on Saturday chronicling a commentary that called Vice-President Mike Pence “a common object of hatred” during his visit to South Korea for the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

It cited in particular what it called Mr Pence’s attempts to avoid interacting with the North Korean delegation.

“His behaviour reminded one of a criminal wishing to sink through the floor,” KCNA said. “Pence, a backseat driver, had to go back to his den after exposing himself to public disgrace.”

While the language was pointed, KCNA often deploys such vivid descriptions when it criticises adversaries in English-language dispatches intended for attention outside North Korea.

Despite Mr Moon’s optimistic comments on Saturday, there is deep scepticism about whether the good feelings on the Korean Peninsula will last.

Because of the Olympics, the US and South Korea postponed March war games that the allies stage annually, but those exercises will probably resume.

Pyongyang reacts with extreme hostility to the drills, which it claims are invasion preparation.

The US stance could be seen during the opening ceremonies, when North and South Korean athletes marched into the Olympic stadium under a “unification” flag.

Mr Moon and Ms Kim rose, but Mr Pence stayed in his seat.