Moon to strengthen mediating role

Chung Eui-yong, center, national security advisor to the President Moon Jae-in, walks with South Korea's spy chief Suh Hoon, right, as they prepare for a visit to Pyongyang in a military air base in Seongnam, outskirt of Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in is not a distant bystander. He is taking the role of mediator as Seoul is desperate to revive the momentum for denuclearization talks by sending a five-member delegation to Pyongyang.

The special envoys arrived in Pyongyang at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday after an 80-minute flight from Seoul Air Base. The South's delegation used the West Sea in direct air route.

The envoys were welcomed in the North Korean capital by Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the North Korean committee in charge of inter-Korean affairs. The delegation held a 20-minute meeting with Ri and Kim Yong-chol, the North's counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in arranging the June summit in Singapore, presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan said.

The envoys moved to another place for “an official meeting,” but the delegation didn't inform Seoul when and where, press secretary Yoon said, adding no information was available as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on whether or not the delegation would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Sending the envoys was President Moon's decision because he believes it's something he can do to help break the current impasse in North Korea's nuclear disarmament talks with the United States,” a Cheong Wa Dae source said, asking not to be identified.

The key point is that if the Singapore summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North's Kim fails to produce results, then Washington may opt for a “military option,” while Pyongyang may undertake more nuclear and missile tests as the North's Kim walks away from the summit with empty hands.

“This is the worst-case scenario that should not happen as President Moon wants to pursue his branded engagement policy with the North throughout the remainder of his presidency. Sending the envoys is President Moon's last ditch effort,” said Yang Moon-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

President Moon's eagerness to be a mediator faces daunting hurdles because Seoul needs to convince Pyongyang to move denuclearization forward while defending the country's national security interests and interests of other major stakeholders in the nuclear talks.

Washington wants a quick, concrete and detailed denuclearization process, while Pyongyang prefers a phased negotiation process by receiving some degree of concessions from the United States in exchange for its earlier gestures to dismantle one of its nuclear test sites and return more of the remains of U.S. troops killed during the Korean War.

But the growing pressure of time may help matters, say political analysts in Seoul. Trump appears to be closing the deal before the mid-term elections in the U.S. in November. The North wants a guarantee of financial assistance early to sustain the impoverished state.

The White House announced President Moon will meet President Trump later this month in New York when the United Nations National Assembly opens. Cheong Wa Dae said it will debrief Trump on details of the Seoul envoys' visit.

Cheong Wa Dae still hopes to declare the ending of the Korean War within the year. “President Moon is at a stage to meet all different conditions of major stakeholders including Japan, China and Russia for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the Cheong Wa Dae source said.

Chung Eui-yong, head of the South's delegation, said he will fly to Tokyo and Beijing to discuss the latest developments from his visit to the North.

All eyes are focused whether Kim Jong-un will meet with the Seoul envoys. Chung carried a written message from President Moon.