US can consider 'good enough deal' as realistic option

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All-or-nothing policy toward NK will result in nothing'

By Yi Whan-woo

South Korea's proposal for a “good enough deal” with North Korea to advance the now-stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington is apparently gaining ground among U.S. officials and experts.

Cheong Wa Dae recently proposed a “good enough deal” as a possible alternative solution to both U.S. President Donald Trump's “all-or-nothing” strategy and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's “small deal” approach.

Some U.S. experts have proposed “a phased approach” to break the stalemate ahead of a summit between Moon and Trump in Washington, D.C., scheduled from April 10 to 11.

The “good enough deal” assumes complete denuclearization, as outlined in Trump's “all-or-nothing” strategy, is unrealistic.

It instead proposes a “couple of stages deal,” under which the U.S. and the North move onto the next stage and continue developing negotiations, as long as they find an agreement in the previous phase that was “good enough.”

It is also different from Kim's tactics of a series of small deals criticized by U.S. hawks as a mere repetition of its previous “salami tactics.” This demands compensation from the U.S. in return for nuclear disarmament measure taken at each step of the negotiations.

“At this point, any realistic policy must begin with accepting the reality that complete and fully verifiable denuclearization is not a realistic prospect any time soon,” Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Hass wrote in a contribution to Project Syndicate magazine. “It need not and should not be abandoned as a long-term goal, but it cannot dominate near-term policy. An all-or-nothing policy toward North Korea will result in nothing.”

Hass said this is why it “makes sense to explore a phased approach.” He proposed that Pyongyang freeze its testing and production of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, while receiving a “sort of substantial sanctions relief” as Kim demanded during his summit with Trump in Hanoi late February. The possible relief may include a formal end to the Korean War and the establishment of a liaison office in Washington, D.C.

Hass still underscored that “full sanctions relief and diplomatic normalization would come only with full denuclearization.”

John Merrill, a former chief of the Northeast Asia Division in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, voiced a similar view.

In an interview with Radio Free Asia, he said it is sensed in Washington, D.C., that a gradual and step-by-step approach is recognized as the only solution for Pyongyang's denuclearization.

He also said Trump should recognize the North will not give up nuclear weapons right away and that an intermediary step toward denuclearization is therefore needed.

Against this backdrop, a Cheong Wa Dae official said the “all-or-nothing” strategy should be revised and that it was important for the North to agree on a comprehensive roadmap for nuclear disarmament.

Diplomatic sources speculate the Moon-Trump summit next week is a critical test of Moon's credibility as an intermediary, because it will be the first meeting since the collapse of the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi.

Kim Hyun-chong, a deputy director of the National Security Office at Cheong Wa Dae, said the two allies were “in complete sync” about where they are headed in efforts to denuclearize the North.

“It is not true that there is a gap, because we completely agree on our final destination, end state and the roadmap,” he told reporters at Incheon International Airport, Friday, after wrapping up his weeklong trip to the U.S.

This was his first U.S. trip as NSO deputy director. Kim travelled there to arrange the summit next week.

He said his talks with his counterpart, U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Charles Kupperman, “went very well,” when asked about possible discrepancies between the two allies on North Korea policy.

“I believe we can expect a great outcome from next week's summit,” he added.

He declined to comment over whether Moon will send a special envoy to the North as suggested by NSO chief Chung Eui-yong