U.S.-South Korea talks
Matthew Pottinger, special assistant to President Donald Trump, meets on Tuesday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Seoul. Representatives of the two countries agreed to a June summit in Washington, with North Korea as the main topic.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea and the United States have agreed to use all means, “including sanctions and dialogue,” to try to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapons program, the South’s presidential office said Tuesday after a meeting with an aide to President Donald Trump.
The aide, Matthew Pottinger, Asia director on the National Security Council, met with Chung Eui-yong, an adviser to the new South Korean president, and other foreign-policy aides in Seoul, the capital.
In their meeting at the Blue House, the presidential palace, the two sides followed up on a recent telephone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and Trump, who agreed to hold a summit meeting in Washington next month.
On Tuesday, Pottinger and Chung agreed to work toward a summit meeting in late June, said Moon’s spokesman, Yoon Young-chan.
A date and other specifics of the summit are still to be
decided, Yoon said.
The two countries also confirmed that Moon and Trump shared four broad principles in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis, Yoon said.
“First, the ultimate goal is to completely dismantle the North Korean nuclear weapons,” he said. “Second, to that end, both sides will employ all means, including sanctions and dialogue. Third, dialogue with North Korea is possible when the circumstances are right. Fourth, to achieve these goals, South Korea and the United States will pursue drastic and practical joint approaches.”
Moon briefly stopped by the meeting to greet Pottinger, Yoon said.
Pottinger’s visit came two days after North Korea launched a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, considered more powerful than any other missile North Korea has deployed. The successful test Sunday highlighted the North’s growing missile and nuclear threats.
Unlike his two conservative predecessors, Moon, a liberal, has emphasized the importance of dialogue in dealing with North Korea, saying that his predecessors’ hard line, which focused on sanctions, had failed to prevent the North from expanding its nuclear weapons and missiles arsenal.
Moon has said that he would meet with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, if the circumstances were right.
Moon took office last week after winning an election triggered by the ouster of his conservative predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office and jailed in March over corruption allegations. Moon has criticized Park’s hard line against the North, saying the approach achieved little and only reduced Seoul’s voice in international efforts to deal with its rival.
Under the leadership of Kim, North Korea has been speeding up its pursuit of a decades-long goal of developing nuclear-armed missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests last year, which are likely to have improved its know-how in making nuclear weapons small enough to fit on long-range missiles. Experts say the “medium long-range” Hwasong-12 missile the North fired on Sunday achieved a higher altitude and longer flight time than any other missile the country has tested.
Also Tuesday, Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the top American military officer in the Pacific, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo to discuss the North Korean missile launch. They said the North’s “unacceptable” action underscored the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance.
“We now need to apply pressure on North Korea, and Japan and the United States need to coordinate closely so as to apply pressure,” Abe told reporters.