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| Hankook Ilbo Vice President Lee young-sung, right, speaks as other panelists, including Evans Revere, third from left, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies, listen during a discussion at The Korea Forum 2018 co-hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper Hankook Ilbo at The Shlla Hotel, Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han |
By Yi Whan-woo
Evans Revere, a former U.S. deputy chief of negotiations for North Korea's nuclear program, said Thursday it is important to be cautious of the true intentions of North Korea following its abrupt decision for denuclearization.
Speaking before The Korea Forum 2018 co-hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, Revere warned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the "master tactician" and remained cautious about being too optimistic of North Korea's change in its nuclear policy.
"As we try to determine whether North Korea is serious about moving in a positive and productive direction, it is also fair to ask whether the North Korean leader may be coming to the table out of sense of vulnerability," he said during the second session of the forum at The Shilla Hotel, Seoul, in Jangchung-dong.
Revere, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and former U.S. charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul was one of the five panelists for the session titled, "Denuclearization and peace regime."
The four others were former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Asia-Pacific Security Program Center for a New American Security Senior Director Patrick Cronin, former senior research fellow of China's National Defense University Xu Weidi and international studies professor of Handong Global University Kim Joon-hyung.
Hankook Ilbo Vice President Lee Young-sung moderated the session.
Revere claimed the gap between the two motivations of North Korea is massive and the implication of each is profoundly different so that "a careful and cool-headed analysis of what is accurate concerning Kim Jong-un is necessary" at this juncture.
He said North Korea's past behavior regarding its nuclear program has taught us the lesson to be cautious and careful, saying "hope is not a strategy."
"I would only add to that, especially when one's adversary is a master tactician and a superb negotiator, the coming days will tell us whether we finally have a strategy that will lead North Korea's denuclearization or alternatively we have fundamentally misunderstood Pyongyang's true intentions."
He said, however, the joint declaration announced by President Moon Jae-in and Kim during their April 27 summit "rightly touched on nuclear issues briefly."
He referred to the two leaders' reaffirmation on the two Koreas' joint goal of making a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through compete denuclearization.
"Perhaps fortune will smile on us this time. Over the years, though, when we were tested with the North's sincerity regarding denuclearization, Pyongyang disappointed us. Perhaps this time, North Korea will finally pass the test," he said.
Meanwhile, former Unification Minister Chung said doubts will not resolve issues on the North's denuclearization.
He argued the North Korean nuclear crisis is the "product of international relations" and that it can be resolved when Pyongyang's "relations with its adversaries" are settled.
He said deployment of U.S. strategic assets on the Korean Peninsula should be included in the talks over denuclearization.
