POW transfer, DMZ blast complicate Lee's peace initiative
President Lee Jae Myung delivers a keynote address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Tuesday (local time). Yonhap
Experts question whether US-NK talks will address Seoul's security concerns
President Lee Jae Myung’s trip to the United Nations and Mexico, where he emphasized peace on the Korean Peninsula and renewed U.S.-North Korea dialogue, was overshadowed at home by controversy over the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war and a suspected land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
Experts said the incidents drew attention to the challenges facing Lee’s peace initiative as Pyongyang maintains its hostile stance toward Seoul. They also questioned whether renewed U.S.-North Korea talks would adequately address South Korea’s security concerns.
Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, said North Korea would be unlikely to respond positively to peace overtures under normal circumstances, and that the incidents have likely added to the tension.
“I don’t think North Korea would have shown much enthusiasm toward the Lee Jae Myung government even if these two incidents had not happened,” Nam said. “North Korea is already playing a bigger game with President Trump.”
Nam said Pyongyang is more interested in negotiating directly with U.S. President Donald Trump than improving relations with Seoul, making a possible meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un more consequential than Lee’s U.N. address.
“The two incidents reflect the complexity of issues on the Korean Peninsula,” he added.
Shin Kak-soo, a former South Korean ambassador to Japan, said the central question was whether renewed talks would bring meaningful progress toward denuclearization.
“Even if there are interim steps, without a road map for the entire denuclearization process, it would effectively mean recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,” Shin said.
He warned that Washington could secure concessions on intercontinental ballistic missiles while leaving North Korea’s nuclear threat against South Korea intact if Seoul’s interests were not adequately reflected in negotiations.
“Rather than simply focusing on arranging a meeting between the U.S. and North Korean leaders, it is important to coordinate closely with Washington and develop a negotiating strategy that reflects South Korea’s interests,” he said.
A Surion helicopter flies over the southern boundary of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Several Army soldiers were seriously injured in a suspected land mine explosion in the DMZ the previous day. Military authorities are investigating the cause of the blast. Yonhap
Yang Uk, a research fellow and director at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the DMZ incident highlighted the need to maintain military readiness amid North Korea’s continued military activities along the border.
“No matter how much we talk about dialogue, North Korea is continuing its preparations for war,” Yang said, pointing to Pyongyang’s ongoing military activities along the border.
He warned that U.S.-North Korea talks could leave Seoul’s security interests unaddressed if Washington and Pyongyang negotiated primarily around their own priorities.
Yang called for maintaining military readiness alongside diplomacy, with the unification, defense and foreign ministries coordinating closely.
The POW controversy began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed during his U.N. General Assembly address that two North Korean soldiers captured in Russia’s Kursk region had been transferred to South Korea.
Lee expressed regret over the disclosure, saying the two countries had agreed to keep the transfer private. Seoul said it had sought confidentiality to protect the soldiers and their families still in North Korea. A Ukrainian presidential source reportedly denied the existence of such an agreement.
Nam said Pyongyang might avoid publicly acknowledging the transfer.
“From North Korea’s point of view, there is no need to talk about it,” he said.
Separately, three South Korean soldiers were injured in a suspected land mine explosion in the western section of the DMZ on Sept. 21. The cause and origin of the explosive remain undetermined, while the military’s response and investigation procedures have drawn political scrutiny.
The South Korean military and the United Nations Command conducted preparatory work at the site Saturday, ahead of a joint investigation.
Lee used his U.N. address and diplomatic meetings to promote renewed dialogue and a phased approach to denuclearization, beginning with a halt to nuclear weapons development. North Korea has yet to respond positively to Seoul’s calls for dialogue.