Crucial North Korea-US talks taking place all over
Sung Kim and Choe Son-hui
By Kim Bo-eun
The ongoing working-level meeting between North Korea and the U.S. is likely to produce a framework on Pyongyang’s denuclearization that will serve as the basis for the North Korea-U.S. summit and ultimately determine the fate of the Korean Peninsula.
Delegations led by the North’s vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim met at the truce village of Panmunjeom, Sunday, to finalize the framework. Kim was former Ambassador to South Korea and a U.S. special envoy for the six party talks on the North’s nuclear program.
A separate meeting is set to take place in Singapore, the summit venue, to discuss protocol and security, while communication continues through the New York channel _ the North Korean mission at the United Nations _ to enable the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held June 12. The U.S. president last week called off the meeting, citing hostile remarks made by North Korean officials regarding the White House’s reference to the Libyan model of denuclearization.
Libya’s nuclear disarmament was achieved after it shipped its nuclear equipment to the U.S. and White House officials stated North Korea should follow this model. This sparked an angry response from the North because Libya saw its leader being executed by U.S.-supported rebels several years later.
The meeting will likely discuss ensuring the North Korean regime’s security as a reward for dismantling its nuclear program, and Pyongyang and Washington normalizing relations.
President Moon Jae-in and the North’s Kim held a surprise meeting Saturday and exchanged their stances on ending the hostility between the U.S. and North Korea.
Kim stated the regime was aiming “to put an end to a history of conflict through a successful Pyongyang-Washington summit,” and Moon delivered Trump’s stance that “North Korea’s denuclearization will end a hostile relationship with the U.S. and that the regime would be assisted by the U.S. in achieving economic prosperity.”
The outcome of the talks will depend on how North Korea will accept the U.S. stance on its denuclearization, which is complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID).
The Kyodo News Agency, citing U.S. officials, stated Washington is calling for Pyongyang to first ship its nuclear warheads to the U.S. Last year, North Korea claimed that it successfully developed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) capable of carrying nuclear warheads that could reach the U.S. mainland. It appears the U.S. could call for North Korea to first give up its nuclear warheads or its ICBMs instead of demanding it to ship its entire program to the U.S. in one go.
North Korea dismantling its nuclear program and establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S. would lead to changes in the security dynamics on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
Trump hinted that Washington is willing to provide Pyongyang significant economic incentives in return for its denuclearization.
“I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial nation one day. Kim Jong-un agrees with me on this. It will happen!” Trump posted on Twitter, Sunday (local time).
Earlier, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke about the potential of U.S. investment in North Korea, on the condition of complete denuclearization.