Moon tones down 'sanctions easing' pitch

This combination of pictures created on November 12, 2018 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, left, during the Inter-Korean summit in the Peace House building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom on April 27, 2018, and US President Donald Trump during a post-election press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on November 7, 2018. AFP-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in is toning down his hopes for an easing of U.S. and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on North Korea as the South Korean leader wants to try again as the role of a “neutral facilitator” of the ongoing denuclearization process.

Political analysts in Seoul said Monday the shift came after the President's efforts to win backing from the United Kingdom and France, which hold seats on the UNSC, apparently fell flat during his earlier trip to European capital cities.

Moon's “sanctions-easing” agenda, aimed at inducing the North to accelerate its moves for nuclear disarmament with greater engagement, also caused a rift in South Korea's alliance with the United States.

“As the United States is continuing its 'maximum campaign' against North Korea in denuclearization talks, further widening the stark difference in messages, could cause a long-simmering rift between Seoul and Washington, which isn't a good scenario in terms of providing new impetus on the stalled talks,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

A Cheong Wa Dae official told The Korea Times the presidential national security team led by the National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong is on track to coordinate diverging approaches with Washington and Seoul's other key allies toward the North Korea issue.

“Cheong Wa Dae understands that the denuclearization efforts between South Korea and the United States are increasingly at odds as the North Korea nuclear issue is both a local and international issue. However, the close coordination does not mean a cancellation or postponement of inter-Korean business projects as they are being implemented under the UNSC rules,” said the Cheong Wa Dae official on the condition of anonymity.

Washington is facing growing pressure from China, Russia and South Korea as well as humanitarian groups to loosen economic sanctions on the impoverished North because talks aimed at dismantling Pyongyang have hit a snag.

Since the June summit between the United States and North Korea, there has been little progress with the two clearly sparring over the exact meaning of “denuclearization.”

In a meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit; President Moon didn't raise the issue of relaxing North Korean sanctions, instead confirming the continuance of the close cooperation to manage the issue.

“It would be premature to ease sanctions at this point,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI). “North Korea has yet to provide a denuclearization of its nuclear program or take substantive steps to dismantle its program.”

President Moon will attend the G20 summit to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, late November. Several face-to-face meetings with key stakeholders of the North Korea issue are scheduled.