[INTERVIEW] Presidential adviser calls for N. Korea to accept dialogue overture

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North Korea

Fri, July 28, 2017 | 22:08

[INTERVIEW] Presidential adviser calls for N. Korea to accept dialogue overture

Posted : 2017-07-13 16:44

Updated : 2017-07-14 10:19

Yonsei University professor Moon Chung-in, who is also President Moon Jae-in's special adviser for unification and national security affairs, speaks during a recent interview with The Korea Times in his office at the East Asia Foundation in Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kim Rahn

North Korea should show flexibility regarding President Moon Jae-in's forward-looking proposals aimed at resuming inter-Korean ties and finding solutions to the nuclear standoff, according to his special security adviser.

"The ball is in Pyongyang's court. Pyongyang needs to make a wise choice," Moon Chung-in, a distinguished professor at Yonsei University, said in an interview, Monday.

The professor, who helped create inter-Korean rapprochement policies under the previous liberal governments, is now serving as a special adviser for unification and national security affairs to President Moon.

"This is a critical time for the two Koreas. President Moon has made an offer to turn the situation around. Pyongyang should grab this opportunity. It has to reciprocate," Moon Chung-in said.

The professor emphasized that this is only his personal opinion as a "scholar," not as a presidential adviser, saying he does not want to create "unnecessary" disputes over his remarks about North Korea-related issues. "Here, I'm speaking as a scholar. I cannot say anything as a presidential adviser," he said.

The professor highly recognized President Moon obtaining support from other heads of states during recent summits, including U.S. President Donald Trump, for taking a leading role on the North Korea nuclear issue, calling on Pyongyang to take this chance for dialogue and to be more flexible.

He said the North should be positive about many of the President's proposals announced in his speech at the Korber Foundation in Berlin, July 6.

"If some specific parts of the proposals are realized, it will help ease tension and build trust between the two Koreas, although it is unclear whether this will be developed into a peace treaty," he said.

"In the speech, the President said he is seeking peace on the Korean Peninsula and would not pursue any hostile policy toward the North, or seek Pyongyang's collapse and unification through absorption. This is something the North should give positive attention," he said.

While the President said he would seek a peace treaty with the participation of relevant countries, professor Moon said the goal requires easing of military tension, adding some of the proposals, such as preventing accidental military conflict, are also what Pyongyang has called for.

He said that inter-Korean economic cooperation would also be possible within the constraints of U.N. Security Council resolutions; and that nonpolitical exchanges such as the reunion of families separated by the Korean War (1950-53) could be done without any limitations, adding all of these depend on North Korea's response.

Professor Moon urged North Korea to pay attention to the "four nos" principle which the President announced in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) during his visit to Washington, D.C.: no hostile policies against the North, no intention to attack it, no wish for regime change or collapse, and no plan for artificial unification.

It is also noteworthy that the President gained support from Trump and other heads of state to take a leading role in creating an environment for resuming inter-Korean talks and achieving peaceful unification, the professor said.

"North Korea should take a forward-looking stance. If the North refuses the proposals, the President will lose his leverage to take the leading role. That will ruin relations between the two Koreas as well as those between Pyongyang and Washington. Under this circumstance, a vicious circle of distrust, provocation, and punishment will be set in motion, and all parties concerned will have no way out," he said.

"Pyongyang should pay attention to the President's stance and give a corresponding response."

rahnita@ktimes.com