The success of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will depend on how to get Pyongyang to take concrete steps toward denuclearization. However, the two sides have yet to narrow their differences over how to dismantle the North's nuclear arsenal, with less than two weeks left before the summit, scheduled for Feb. 27 and 28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
This is why skepticism is resurfacing, with concern that the North may drag its feet on its commitments to give up its nuclear program. In fact, both countries are in tough negotiations for the Trump-Kim meeting. Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for North Korea, returned from Pyongyang empty-handed last week without ironing out the differences with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyock-chol.
Against this backdrop, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted at easing U.S.-led international sanctions against the North, but not without conditions. The semi-official Yonhap News Agency in Seoul quoted Pompeo as telling CBS News that Washington wanted good results from the North in return for sanctions relief.
If the report is accurate, it could be the first time any U.S. official has floated the idea of softening, if not lifting, the sanctions imposed on the North for conducting nuclear and long-range missile tests. This may signal a change in the Trump administration's hard-line position that the sanctions remain until the North carries out complete and verifiable denuclearization.
Therefore, Pompeo's remark could be interpreted as taking a flexible attitude toward the sanctions in a bid to revive momentum for the stalled nuclear talks with the North and make a real breakthrough at the second summit. The Kim regime has so far called for sanctions relief in exchange for its phased steps for nuclear disarmament. It has also demanded the declaration of a formal end to the Korean War as well as security guarantees.
In this regard, we positively assess a potential U.S. move to relax the sanctions, which could help break the deadlock and pave the way for the North to take a denuclearization path. Of course, Washington should be careful in backpedaling on the sanctions because it may risk losing its leverage in getting Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear program. It would also be hard to reactivate the sanctions once they have been eased or lifted.
Therefore, the U.S. must ensure that the North takes meaningful and substantive steps such as dismantling its Yongbyon nuclear complex and other plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities before sanctions relief. The U.S. should also make sure the North presents a detailed timetable for denuclearization as well as allowing international inspections and verifications.
As for sanctions relief, the Trump government could consider allowing South Korea to resume operating the now-closed inter-Korean industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Gaeseong, and restart the Mount Geumgang tourism project. These steps could be taken by exempting inter-Korean economic cooperation from U.N. sanctions. This could minimize the risk of weakening the international sanctions regime against the North.
But whatever the circumstances, any sanctions relief should serve only as the catalyst to achieving final and fully verifiable denuclearization of the North. Pyongyang should not seek to reduce sanctions without abandoning its nuclear ambitions.