Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Moon's adviser cautious about North Korea-US deal
By Kim Bo-eun
Moon Chung-in
By Kim Bo-eun
Presidential security adviser Moon Chung-in said it would be difficult to produce a timeline for North Korea's denuclearization, adding it would be more realistic to make a timeline for nuclear disarmament negotiations.
"Making a roadmap for negotiations will be much more realistic than making a roadmap for denuclearization itself," the special adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs said in an interview with RFA in Washington, D.C., Tuesday (local time).
Moon said Pyongyang does not have concrete plans for denuclearization, and that the ongoing negotiations between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump and follow-up discussions should address this.
He said if Pyongyang dismantles its Yongbyon nuclear facility and other sites and facilities including centifuges for enriching uranium in a verifiable way, the U.S. would make "considerably great concessions."
"In this case, the U.S. would be able to considerably ease sanctions, in addition to making a declaration ending the Korean War and opening a U.S. liaison office in the North," he said.
The adviser said he felt a high level of attention over the economy, when he was in Pyongyang last September as part of the delegation that visited for the third inter-Korean summit held there.
"From the fact that North Korean officials were only interested in businessmen, and not politicians from the South, we could feel that the North's economy was the most important issue on the agenda," he said.
Meanwhile, at a talk held at the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute, Moon said the permanent shutdown of Yongbyon would be more than enough to partially alleviate sanctions, because “it would be the first step toward irreversible nuclear dismantlement.”
Moon said it was possible Washington could grant a partial easing of sanctions to enable inter-Korean economic cooperation, such as the reopening of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex or the resumption of tours to Mount Geumgang in the North, as corresponding measures for Pyongyang's denuclearization steps.
The North Korean leader "has an exact understanding of the scope and definition of final, fully verified denuclearization the U.S. is calling for," he said.
"I do not think that North Korea has a different interpretation of denuclearization. I think, however, that there are differences in the approach to achieve the final goal of denuclearization.”
With regards to pulling out U.S. troops from the South or removing the U.S. nuclear umbrella, Moon said these would not be discussed at the summit because the North did not bring them up in working-level talks held ahead of the meeting.