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| Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul prepare to give a briefing on current security affairs to lawmakers at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday that she had been briefed by the United States about a personal letter sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump inviting him for a third summit to be held in Pyongyang.
"I was recently told in detail from the U.S. about the existence of the letter," she told lawmakers during a meeting at the National Assembly.
The remarks came ahead of President Moon Jae-in's planned visit to the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York, where he could have a summit with Trump. The U.S. president has been sending favorable gestures and messages to North Korea after Pyongyang hinted at restarting talks on its denuclearization.
Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office is also keeping a close eye on Kim Jong-un's recent letters sent to Trump.
Despite the failed Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim in February this year, the government here has been exerting efforts to broker another summit between the two leaders to keep the denuclearization dialogue alive.
At the United Nations, the leaders of South Korea and the U.S. will exchange specific ideas on measures to keep the North engaged ahead of the possible resumption of working-level nuclear disarmament talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Political experts in Seoul said Moon may suggest reopening the Mount Geumgang tourism program to encourage Pyongyang to start drawing down its nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Kang said the foreign ministry was making "thorough preparations" for Washington's possible pressure to raise Seoul's contribution to the defense cost sharing for the stationing of the U.S. Forces Korea here.
"Regarding the specific cost, we can figure it out only after the negotiations begin," she told the lawmakers.
At the Assembly, Kang also shared the government's stance on the ongoing trade and political dispute with Japan.
"We can reconsider the decision to scrap a bilateral military information sharing pact with Japan once Seoul and Tokyo restore their mutual trust," she said. The political dispute stems from Seoul's Supreme Court rulings last year that ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to Koreans forced to work for them in wartime.
Last month, Seoul decided not to extend a bilateral military information-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), with Japan, as retaliation against the latter's intensifying trade dispute with the South.
Kang also expressed the ministry's views on Japan's plan to discharge 1.15 million tons of radiation contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. The water has been stored in tanks since the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
"Japan's position is that nothing has been decided (over the handling of the contaminated water), and it will share any updated information with the international community in a transparent manner," Kang said.
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul also attended the Assembly meeting to brief lawmakers on ongoing efforts in inter-Korean relations.
Kim said the ministry would continue its efforts to improve relations with the North by offering to hold a series of reconciliatory inter-Korean events and providing humanitarian aid to Pyongyang.
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