Moon to push 'interim deal' to Trump at summit

U.S. President Donald Trump and Robert O'Brien, named as the new national security adviser, board Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport, Sept. 18. AP-Yonhap

Chief NK negotiator welcomes Trump's flexibility

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in plans to pitch his “interim deal” regarding North Korea's denuclearization when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Cheong Wa Dae and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) sources told The Korea Times, Friday.

Moon and Trump will hold a summit Tuesday morning (KST) and the stalled nuclear disarmament talks between Washington and Pyongyang are expected to be near the top of their agenda.

In a briefing to reporters, Friday, Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said the President will use his visit to the U.N. to promote his ongoing efforts to bring permanent peace to the Korean Peninsula. He will also explain why an incremental approach to the North's denuclearization matters to the international community.

Conditions for a resumption of the U.S.-North Korea talks look favorable after Trump fired National Security Adviser John Bolton, a noted hawk on Pyongyang. North Korea welcomed the decision and announced working-level discussions between the two countries would resume “in a couple of weeks.” Trump also reiterated his commitment against regime change in the North, raising expectations the Moon-Trump summit could produce a “meaningful agreement” on potential denuclearization methodology.

The chief North Korean nuclear negotiator welcomed Trump's remarks, hinting at a “new way” in advancing the stalled talks.

“I welcome Trump's wise political determination to approach North Korea-United States relations in a more practical perspective. I expect Washington to come up with plans in the upcoming working-level nuclear negotiations and I remain optimistic on the outcome of the upcoming dialogue with the United States,” said Kim Myong-gil in remarks carried by the North's official Korea Central News Agency.

Kim praised Trump's remarks clarifying Washington was not seeking the co-called “Libyan model” of denuclearization for North Korea. The officials also noted Trump's flexibility toward the nuclear disarmament talks.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said he believed the United States and South Korea, as well as China and Russia, generally agreed that an interim deal was “essential” to progress, and so President Moon would ask Trump to pursue a step-by-step approach.

“If Washington and Seoul agree to take an incremental approach, then that would give the United States and North Korea a chance to uncover each other's intentions regarding progress in the nuclear negotiations. The government is hoping the U.S. will follow through with some visible concessions to North Korea,” the official said asking not to be identified as he wasn't authorized to talk to the media.

Political experts here said as it was very unlikely North Korea would “completely abandon” its nuclear program in the near term, Trump and Moon reaching a consensus on an “initial deal” that included a timeline for sanctions relief, such as restarting Mount Geumgang tourism could help break the impasse in the talks.

“Given recent announcements and messages regarding the North Korea nuclear issue, now is a good time for President Moon to ambitiously push his sanctions easing agenda,” Hanyang University politics professor Kim Kyung-min said, adding taking steps toward an interim deal would allow major stakeholders in the talks, namely China, Japan and Russia to claim their key interests were being addressed.

President Moon pitched his “sanctions easing” agenda to Trump first in April when they met at the White House, however, it failed to get much attention. However, Trump did say he was open to offering “relief from certain sanctions” that could be immediately restored if the North resumed its nuclear activities, the so-called “snapback” mechanism.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the holding of a trilateral summit between Trump, Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the U.N. meeting was a prerequisite to advancing the denuclearization process.

“They should meet to coordinate alliance policy on North Korea. It would be even better to include Abe to demonstrate trilateral coordination after recent friction between Seoul and Tokyo,” Easley said via e-mail. “Another summit with Kim Jong-un, especially a Trump visit to Pyongyang, would be premature without better alliance management and significant working-level progress on denuclearization.”

Trump is said to have asked Moon to keep Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation alive as “building blocks” for peace and regional security in East Asia, according to DPK sources.