Moon may push for inter-Korean summit after Trump meeting

President Moon Jae-in waves his hands before departing a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Washington D.C., Thursday (KST). Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in may push for another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Thursday.

Sources at Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday that Moon will seek U.S. approval to send a special envoy to Pyongyang to arrange such a meeting.

National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong hinted recently that the presidential office would send an envoy to the North to prepare for an inter-Korean summit. Chung declined to give any details such as who the envoy would be, though political experts have suggested that it would be National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon.

“Sending an envoy to Pyongyang after the Moon-Trump summit is viewed as a precursor to a third meeting between Trump and Kim later this year,” one source said requesting anonymity. He added that any upcoming inter-Korean summit would focus on the denuclearization talks between the United States and North Korea, and trust-building measures for the two countries.

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook departed for the U.S. from a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul, Wednesday (KST). They are scheduled to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, today, and will return home April 12, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

The Moon-Trump summit is their first meeting since the U.S. president's failed talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam. Their talks collapsed after Trump didn't accept Kim's request for sanctions easing in exchange for the verifiable dismantling of the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex and a freeze on fissile material production.

North Korea threatened recently to quit the nuclear talks, pushing President Moon to shift his role from “mediator” to “facilitator.”

President Moon Jae-in, right, chats with presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min upon his arrival to a military airbase in Seongnam near Seoul before heading to Washington D.C. for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Thursday (KST). Yonhap

The summit comes a day before the first session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly kicks off in Pyongyang, which many political analysts in Seoul think will provide a clue to the possible direction of Kim's economic and nuclear policies.

Some analysts predict that Moon and Trump will agree on the effectiveness of top-down nuclear diplomacy that can override bureaucrats boxed in by “traditional thinking.”

“President Moon's primary concern going to Washington is sanctions relief,” unification and inter-Korean affairs adviser Moon Chung-in said, indicating the President would seek an easing of Washington's “maximum pressure” policy.

Ahead of the U.S.-South Korea summit, North Korea's Kim called a meeting of a top Workers' Party committee to address what he described as the “prevailing tense situation,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

Political experts say that it is unlikely that Moon's “good enough” phased denuclearization approach will gain much traction with Trump. This would ease sanctions progressively in response to nuclear disarmament steps taken by the North, although it would incorporate a “snapback” measure. The snapback would re-impose all sanctions on the North for any backsliding on its part.

“President Moon wants to make sure the talks between the United States and North Korea continue. What President Moon has to do is to see if Pyongyang and Washington are ready to address key conditions,” said Yang Moo-jin, a North Korean watcher in Seoul.

“Washington won't dampen the mood on nuclear talks. But as North Korea has never said it will completely stop all of its nuclear and missile development, it will be quite challenging for President Moon to convince Trump about his sanctions easing agenda given repeated statements by top U.S. politicians to retain strong sanctions,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a policy adviser to Cheong Wa Dae's security council.

President Moon earlier said, “Neither of the two Koreas nor the United States want to go back to the past.” Trump plans to visit Osaka, Japan, in June to participate in this year's G-20 Summit.