North Korea holds key to reviving talks with US: presidential adviser

Moon Chung-in, left, special adviser on unification and diplomacy issues to President Moon Jae-in, speaks during a forum at the National Assembly to mark the 19th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration between then-President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korea leader Kim Jong-il in 2000, June 11. Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun

By Jung Da-min

North Korea should be pushed to return to negotiations at the earliest possible date as its leader Kim Jong-un holds the key to getting denuclearization talks back on track, according to a presidential adviser on unification and diplomacy matters.

Moon Chung-in also said the United States and North Korea are now at a "critical" moment, speaking at a special event to mark the 19th anniversary of the "June 15 Joint Declaration" signed by then-President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000. The National Unification Advisory Council New York Chapter, a civic advisory group for government policy on North Korea, organized the June 14 (local time) event.

"Kim Jong-un should make a wise decision to revive the structure of top-down nuclear diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump, while also cooperating with the South," Moon said. "North Korea can speak up after bringing itself to the negotiation table, as the U.S. has been calling for dialogue with the North."

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He said holding another inter-Korean summit before Trump's visit to South Korea at the end of this month would also be a "great idea," because this could enable the Koreas and the United States to hold a trilateral summit after the scheduled Moon-Trump encounter.

During the session, Moon said Washington and Pyongyang "should make progress in denuclearization talks" by the end of the year, so that Washington could keep policy consistency on North Korea, even after its presidential election next year.

"Some U.S. Democrats say Washington would implement a completely different path toward the North if its representative is elected president next year, unless Trump fails to see substantial progress in the denuclearization talks," Moon said. "If there is no progress between the two countries by the end of this year, we can't rule out the possibility that the North could restart conducting ballistic missiles tests or its seventh nuclear test. … Trump then could take a hardline stance toward the North."

From that perspective, the presidential adviser told participants the United States needs to show its "sense of flexibility" in terms of lifting some economic sanctions on Pyongyang. He added President Moon would continue to play the role of facilitator in the process by developing discussions with major stakeholders in the nuclear talks to possibly reopen joint major economic projects between the Koreas which are now halted.

The adviser said Seoul can take "detours" in resuming the tourism and Gaeseong Industrial Complex projects, allowing individual travelers to visit Mt. Geumgang not so as to violate United Nations Security Council sanctions banning the influx of "bulk cash" to the regime. A revision of relevant systems relating to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex is also needed to provide the North not with cash but with facilities or goods.

As a goodwill gesture, returning the North-owned Wise Honest cargo vessel, detained earlier in May due to a violation of international sanctions, to Pyongyang would be a "plausible scenario" to improve the mood for denuclearization talks.

Moon will attend a forum, June 19, which will be co-hosted by the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council and the Seoul-based East Asia Foundation. There, the adviser will meet U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun.

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