Inter-Korean dialogue will resume after joint air drills

By Lee Min-hyung

President Moon Jae-in said he expects the suspended inter-Korean dialogue to resume after the end of the ongoing joint air drills between Seoul and Washington.

Moon shared this view with U.S. President Donald Trump during their summit at the White House, Wednesday, according to Yoon Young-chan, Moon's chief press secretary.

“Moon told Trump that the inter-Korean dialogue, including high-level talks, may resume after Friday when the Max Thunder air exercises will be over,” Yoon said.

A ranking official from Cheong Wa Dae also said that President Moon feels that a series of inter-Korean deadlocks will be settled after May 25 (the end of the military exercises). The official did not unveil other details about any possible countermeasures for the recent shift in the regime's stance.

Inter-Korean relations looked rosy until last Wednesday when the regime canceled a planned high-level meeting with the South. The regime cited the Max Thunder exercises as the reason behind its decision.

The bilateral ties have since remained locked in stalemate, with Pyongyang stepping up verbal threats on Seoul and Washington for carrying out the drills.

Last week, the regime threatened to not sit face to face with the South unless the latter resolves the issue (surrounding the joint drills). Pyongyang has since urged Seoul to stop any provocative actions that go against the inter-Korean Panmunjeom Declaration, a peace agreement signed last month by leaders of the two Koreas.

Seoul and Washington, however, reached an agreement to proceed with the planned drills until Friday without canceling or scaling them down.

The abrupt suspension of the inter-Korean dialogue mood is in contrast to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's recent remarks that he understands the joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington.

The unpredictable nature of the regime is also raising the possibility about the delay or cancelation of the upcoming summit between Trump and the regime's young dictator on June 12.

During the Seoul-Washington summit, however, President Moon dismissed the possibility over the cancelation of the Trump-Kim summit by saying that he (Moon) has “no doubt at all” about Kim Jong-un's strong determination to meet with Trump and discuss denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Under the Panmunjeom Declaration, both Koreas agreed to hold military talks no later than the end of this month. But the schedule is also expected to hit a deadlock due to the regime's renewed verbal provocations.

The two Koreas also reached a consensus to hold other joint peace activities under the agreement. They include the inter-Korean Red Cross talks during which both sides are expected to discuss the resumption of the reunions of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

Despite the North's abrupt provocative rhetoric, the South Korean government is in a position to continue to take advantage of the rare peace signals from the North and do its best to hold as many meetings as possible to fulfill the peace declaration.