Inter-Korean liaison office to open this week
By Yi Whan-woo
A joint liaison office will open “early this month” in Gaeseong, North Korea, as agreed upon by the two Koreas, according to National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong.
The planned establishment of the liaison office is in line with a joint declaration jointly by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit at Panmunjeom, April 27.
The establishment was confirmed when Chung mentioned it during a three-way meeting among presidential officials, Cabinet members and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers at Cheong Wa Dae, Saturday.
The liaison office is expected to open Wednesday, when Moon's special envoys will visit Pyongyang to discuss a third summit scheduled for later this month following the second one, May 26.
The move, however, is unlikely to be welcomed by the U.S., as Washington apparently wants inter-Korean relations to be in tandem with Pyongyang's denuclearization, talks on which remain deadlocked.
“The inter-Korean liaison office is scheduled to open early this month,” Chung was quoted as saying by DPK chief spokesman Hong Ik-pyo after the Saturday meeting presided over by President Moon.
Chung claimed the Korean Peninsula is “in a very grave situation” for denuclearization and peace and that “utmost efforts should be made to ensure the Panmunjeom Declaration and the June 12 announcement will be implemented without failure.”
He pointed out both Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump issued a declaration aimed at denuclearization during their respective summits with Kim on April 27 and June 12.
Chung positively assessed South and North Korean military efforts to ease tension on the border, saying “Both sides have recently been refraining from denouncing each other near Panmunjeom and have restored military communication lines.”
He stressed the importance of South Korea's leading role as “a stakeholder in peace on the peninsula” and that “the ironclad Seoul-Washington alliance will remain the basis of South Korea's efforts to win international support.”
Chung also raised issues on a planned Pyongyang visit by Moon's special envoys, according to the DPK chief spokesman.
The two Koreas initially sought to open the joint liaison office in August but the plan was delayed.
It will be set up inside the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, which used to be a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliatory efforts before it was shut down in February 2016 in retaliation for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
Seoul argues it will fully control the power supply to the liaison office and that its operation will not violate U.N. sanctions that ban supplies of crude oil and other energy resources to the North.
But it still is likely to irk the U.S., according to some diplomatic sources. They referred to the U.S.-controlled U.N. Command's recent disapproval of a joint field study to modernize the railway network in the North.
According to Voice of America, Saturday, when asked about South Korean envoys' planned North Korea trip and the third inter-Korean summit, a U.S. Department of State official said, “progress on inter-Korean relations “must happen in lockstep with progress on denuclearization.”
“As President Moon has stated, the improvement of relations between North and South Korea cannot advance separately from resolving North Korea's nuclear program,” the official added.