Opinion - The Korea Times

Beginning of denuclearization process

By Tong KimThe outcome of the historic U.S.- North Korea summit in Singapore was met by an outpouring of comments ― mostly negative for lack of specificity in the signed joint statement, doubting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's “firm and unswerving” commitment to “the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”There were complaints that the agreement did not include the critical parts of verification and irreversibility of a “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) that U.S. officials had said they were seeking. President Trump and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo clarified that the concepts of the two missing elements were included in the language of “complete denuclearization.”It is not surprising that North Korea would not have agreed to include “CVID” in the written agreement, in view of their persistent position that they were not a defeated party of war accepting an unconditional surrender, even though they understood or agreed with the meaning of the acronym through numerous pre-summit prep

Jun 15, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Preparations for summit

By Tong KimWriting on U.S. President Donald Trump's potential meeting with Kim Jong-un has been difficult because of the question of what to make of Trump's constant shifting and deliberate oscillation between on-again and off-again positions. Trump supporters call it strategic maneuvering as part of his “art of the deal” and critics call it his unstable element of danger in the art of diplomacy.Last week, Kim Yong-chol, Pyongyang's point man for the U.S., delivered a letter from Kim Jong-un to President Trump at the White House on June 1. The letter would be treated as a reply to Trump's May 24 letter that cancelled the June 12 summit, in which Trump asked the North Korean leader to “call him or write,” if he had changed his mind. Trump's letter was never intended to be final. It was conditional, and it has appeared that the conditions were being mended through a flurry of meetings with the North Koreans. The neighboring countries around the peninsula including Japan, China and Russia are also busy trying to protect their interests regarding the Trump-Kim mee

Jun 5, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Behind warnings from Pyongyang

By Tong KimLast week, the North's first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan, threatened to cancel the scheduled U.S.-North Korea summit for June 12 in Singapore, “if the U.S. is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment.”Why did Pyongyang's most experienced and shrewd strategic negotiator, suddenly show up to raise a red flag to the much-anticipated Kim Jong-un's meeting with Trump? Pyongyang's threat to cancel the summit seems to have been paid off instantly when President Trump said he was not considering “a Libyan model at all.” Trump said, “If we have a deal, I think Kim Jong-un will be very, very happy,” and he will have strong protections to rule his country. North Korea has not killed the summit. Trump seems to want it more than Kim Jong-un does, for his political interests. This column refutes a view that the latest move by the North is because of a need to address the North Korean military's concerns with Kim Jong-un's change in the North's opening to the South and the U.S. We don't know, but we suspect t

May 20, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Positive signals for US-N. Korea summit

By Tong KimA continuing flow of positive signals from Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington bodes well for the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. In the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration, the leaders of both Koreas declared “there will be no more war” and they agreed on the goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through “complete denuclearization.”They also agreed to revive and implement “all existing agreements and declarations” they have adopted thus far, including the non-aggression agreement of 1992. The declaration was focused on peace and elimination of concerns of war, including establishment of a peace regime that will end the war in Korea and replace the 65-year-old armistice agreement.Trump's response to the outcome of the inter-Korean summit has so far been positive. He said, “the war will end in Korea.” After President Moon Jae-on said if anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it's Trump. Trump said Moon was generous and tweeted “peace is the prize.” Trump was upbeat o

May 6, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

What to expect from summit

By Tong KimOn Friday morning the world will watch President Moon Jae-in shake hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the south side of Panmunjeom, probably with broad smiles on their faces. As they kick off a historic third inter-Korean summit, cameras will start rolling to capture every moment of their encounter and an arrival ceremony in front of the House of Peace, where the two leaders will spend a full day for substantive meetings and a dinner afterwards. The optics of their summit will be great, but that does not guarantee a great outcome. There is no question this summit will impact the future of the Korean Peninsula. Their agenda is widely known: to make progress in inter-Korean relations, peace and denuclearization, none of which will be possible to achieve without the other two.Moon is going into the meeting with optimism from North Korea's surprise changes in policy and conscious of a follow-up summit between Pyongyang and Washington, which hopefully will put the icing on the cake on the issues of denuclearization and peace settlement. After Moon said North Korea wa

Apr 25, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

End the war, settle peace

By Tong KimU.S. Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang for a secret meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the Easter weekend. On April 18, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: “Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong-un in North Korea. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for world, but also for North Korea!”Perhaps the most important task for Pompeo was to verify Kim's intent and his awareness of what is happening or what can happen to impact North Korea, and his seriousness to discuss denuclearization with Trump.Pompeo seems to have confirmed Kim's commitment to denuclearization. It appears Pompeo returned home with the answers to other questions as well. Pompeo told a Senate confirmation hearing on April 12, after his return from Pyongyang: “I'm optimistic that the United States government can set the conditions … so that the president and the North Korean leader can have that conversation [that] will set us down the course o

Apr 22, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Contending formulas of denuclearization

Contending formulas of denuclearizationBy Tong KimSince Kim Jong-un mentioned “a phased approach with synchronized measures towards denuclearization” in a surprise meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 26, much discussion has focused on the potential consequences of a Trump-Kim meeting. U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be looking forward to meeting the North Korean leader, although Kim is yet to respond to Trump's acceptance of his invitation. Kim's motive for a sudden shift from confrontation to dialogue may be because of the effectiveness of sanctions and military threats against the North, but it may also be because of his confidence in negotiating leverage from Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. The replacement of H.R. McMaster with John Bolton as U.S. national security adviser raised legitimate concerns, but it was not to change Trump's position on North Korea. McMaster and Bolton both advocated a preventive war, while Mike Pompeo, the nominee for secretary of state, did not. Pompeo, as CIA director, has touted removing Kim Jong-un from the North Korean

Apr 8, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

A flurry of summits on Korea

By Tong KimWe will soon witness historic events. U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May. Before that, President Moon Jae-in will meet Kim at the end of April. Moon has said if these two meetings go well, a trilateral meeting among Moon, Trump and Kim may be possible, presumably to seal a comprehensive package deal on denuclearization. Moon is also seeking a summit with Japan, a trilateral with Japan and China as well as another meeting with Trump. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also reportedly is seeking a summit with Kim. All these summits could happen before a Trump-Kim meeting.Criticisms of Trump's decision to meet the North Korean leader were based on two grounds: disregard of normal process and risks of his decision. Regarding process, Trump made his decision without consulting his advisers or going through a normal decision-making process. He also departed from the traditional practice of summitry in which a president does not make a deal directly with a foreign leader. But the president can conduct foreign policy as he pleases.

Mar 25, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

A breakthrough on N. Korea

By Tong KimIn a stunning development last week, U.S. President Donald Trump accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s invitation to a summit and Trump will meet with him by May, with place and time to be determined later.National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong reportedly delivered a letter with Kim Jong-un’s invitation to the White House. Chung told reporters Kim was “eager to meet with Trump as soon as possible.” The topic for a historic U.S.-DPRK summit will be about “permanent denuclearization,” without which no durable peace is possible. In 2000 former U.S. President Bill Clinton seriously considered visiting Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong-il, then leader of the North. But that did not happen as time ran out. Since the president of the United States has decided to meet with the North Korean leader, concerns and caution about directly engaging the North will not change the momentum for dialogue. Until the announcement of Trump’s bold decision, most Korea watchers cautioned against the mistakes of the past in negotiating with the North,

Mar 11, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Outcome of Olympics diplomacy

By Tong KimAs the PyeongChang Winter Olympics closed Sunday, Olympics diplomacy ended without finding a possible solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. Yet, Olympics diplomacy has remarkably earned an improved inter-Korean relationship through dialogue and interactions on the highest level of both sides with full endorsement of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Without cooperation from Washington and Pyongyang, PyeongChang would not have been a success. Although a scheduled meeting between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, was aborted at the last minute, tensions calmed down during the Olympics. Joint Korea-U.S. military drills were suspended, and no missile or nuclear test was conducted.If there was a propaganda war, it involved two mutual adversaries _ North Korea and the United States. And the winner appeared to be North Korea, which sent Kim Yo-jong, along with North Korea’s nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam to attend the opening of the Olympics and to invite President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang. Pence intentionally

Feb 25, 2018By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Read more

Beginning of denuclearization process

Preparations for summit

Behind warnings from Pyongyang

Positive signals for US-N. Korea summit

What to expect from summit

End the war, settle peace

Contending formulas of denuclearization

A flurry of summits on Korea

A breakthrough on N. Korea

Outcome of Olympics diplomacy

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