Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Trump-Kim talks? ‘It takes two to tango,’ says acting US envoy
Joseph Yun, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, speaks during a seminar hosted by the Korea Press Foundation in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
Acting US ambassador expects US-Korea summit to happen soon
Joseph Yun, the acting U.S. ambassador in Seoul, said Tuesday that any renewed talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hinge on mutual willingness.
"I have no doubt that President Trump considers his engagement with North Korea during his first term as unfinished business, and he wants to reengage with North Korea," Yun said.
"But it takes two to tango," he added. "We have not really heard from the North Korean side whether they too want to reengage. And to me, that's the bigger unknown."
Yun spoke during a Korea Press Foundation seminar with senior journalists, addressing the outlook for South Korea-U.S. relations.
The comments came after the White House said earlier this month that Trump is "receptive" to correspondence from the North Korean leader. The U.S. government neither confirmed nor denied recent media reports that North Korean diplomats in New York refused to accept a personal letter Trump had addressed to Kim.
Yun emphasized that any renewed U.S. engagement with Kim must be “smart and strategic,” with a clear plan to pursue the “big, yet difficult, goal of denuclearization.”
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House in Washington, Saturday (local time). AFP-Yonhap
Speculation over renewed U.S.-North Korea engagement comes as President Lee Jae Myung signals openness to dialogue with the North, marking a shift from years of stalemate under his conservative predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol.
Along with tariffs and defense cost-sharing, Yun said North Korea policy should be a priority in South Korea-U.S. coordination.
Despite the urgency of these issues, a summit between Lee and Trump has yet to take place. The two held a phone call on June 6, just two days after Lee's inauguration.
A planned meeting between the two leaders fell through during the G7 summit in Canada on June 17 after Trump left the event early. With Lee also opting not to attend the NATO summit in The Hague, which kicks off Tuesday (local time), the bilateral summit has been further delayed.
"I think it would be good for President Lee to go to Washington soon to have a substantive bilateral meeting," Yun said. "That’s one of the tasks I’m working on."
Seoul is reportedly seeking to hold a bilateral summit with the U.S. president by August. If that timeline changes, officials are eyeing possible meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September or the APEC summit in Gyeongju in late October.
The U.S. envoy attributed the delay in the in-person meeting between the two leaders to scheduling difficulties and various global crises, dismissing claims that Trump was distancing himself from Lee due to the South Korean president's perceived pro-China stance.
"How can there be distance between them? They don't know each other all that well, which is why I want to get them together," Yun said.
"We are trying our best to schedule a summit meeting ... I have no doubt, within a short time, there will be a meeting," he said, without specifying a timeline.