Moon to name special envoy to NK next week
By Kim Bo-eun
President Moon Jae-in will name a special envoy to North Korea soon, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.
Earlier Moon told U.S. President Donald Trump via telephone about his plan to send the envoy.
The move comes in response to an invitation for talks from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, delivered to Moon via Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who visited the South for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony last month.
The envoy to the North is expected to call for Pyongyang to talk with Washington about denuclearization, before reconciliatory inter-Korean talks are held. But the talks will also likely address the prospects of an inter-Korean summit.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has eased this year in response to the Olympics. After the North Korean leader extended a rare olive branch, expressing willingness to send a delegation to the Games in the South, the U.S. and South Korea pushed back their joint-military exercises until after the sporting event; and the Koreas agreed for the North to take part in the Games.
The government is likely to send the envoy before the joint military drills are held, because they may affect Pyongyang’s willingness for dialogue both with Seoul and Washington.
The North, which regards the exercises as a threat, has been calling for them to be halted permanently.
The drills are set to take place in April after the Paralympics. The U.S. has stated there will be no further delay.
There is speculation that the envoy will go to Pyongyang during the Paralympics, which will be held from March 9-18.
Possible candidates are National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Suh Hoon and Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon.
Both met with the delegations from the North when they visited for the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics.
Suh and Cho were with President Moon and Kim Yo-jong, when she delivered a letter from her brother to Moon.
Under previous administrations, Suh and Cho also traveled to the North for talks with then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Other possible candidates are presidential chief of staff Im Jong-seok and National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong.
The possible talks will cover issues beyond the inter-Korean ones; for example, potential talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
Radio Free Asia cited a U.S. Department of State official as saying Washington was in close contact with Seoul in a unified response to Pyongyang.
It said they share the need to maintain maximum pressure on the regime to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
The U.S. has said it is open for talks with Pyongyang, as long as it shows a commitment to denuclearization.
A North Korean delegate to the closing ceremony of the Games, Kim Yong-chol, head of the Workers’ Party of Korea’s United Front Department, told President Moon that North Korea was willing to talk with the U.S.
However, both have refrained from taking the first steps for dialogue.