Trump could help resolve nuclear standoff with N. Korea: presidential adviser

The election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president could offer a chance to resolve the standoff over North Korea's nuclear program, a senior South Korean presidential advisory panel official said Monday.

Yoo Ho-yeol, executive vice chairman of the National Unification Advisory Council, made the case during a visit to Washington, saying the potential improvement in U.S. relations with Russia under Trump would have positive effects on the North Korean issue.

Should Russia work harder toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as its relations with the U.S. improve, it could then prod China to make greater efforts toward the goal, leaving the North under greater pressure from the two countries, Yoo said.

Yoo, an expert on North Korea, said that the Trump administration isn't expected to be conciliatory toward the communist nation because he's basically from the Republican Party.

Yoo said his council plans to raise $200,000 to help fund the planned establishment of a "Wall of Remembrance" in Washington that lists the names of all American soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

In October, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill authorizing the wall's establishment. The proposed wall would also list American prisoners of war and those missing in action.

"Based on activities like this, we could say to the Trump government that we're not a free rider," Yoo said. (Yonhap)