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| Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha listens to questions from lawmakers during a National Assembly annual audit hearing in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
The United States and North Korea are prepared to "generate results" in their upcoming working-level nuclear disarmament talks with both sides pursuing a more flexible approach in a possible lead-up to another summit between the two countries' leaders, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Wednesday.
"We cannot jump to conclusions, but as far as I know, both sides are fully prepared to achieve results in the upcoming negotiations," Kang told lawmakers during a National Assembly annual audit of her ministry.
North Korea confirmed Tuesday evening that working-level denuclearization discussions with the U.S. would resume Oct. 5 at an "undisclosed location." The restart comes after a months-long hiatus in the failed summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February.
The foreign minister remained optimistic for potential success in the upcoming dialogue.
"My view is that the two sides will return to the talks with a more flexible stance," Kang said. "Once the working-level talks generate a tangible outcome, discussions for a potential summit between Trump and Kim will take place."
One of the key issues to be discussed during the talks will be how Washington can guarantee the security of the Kim regime in return for the North's denuclearization. Last month, a North Korean diplomat said Pyongyang would discuss denuclearization with Washington only after "all potential obstacles and threats," in the way of guaranteeing the security of the North, were "undoubtedly eliminated."
Kang did not comment on how Washington would accomplish this.
The last working-level talks between the U.S. and the North took place in Sweden in January where North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui engaged in three days of dialogue with her U.S. counterpart Stephen Biegun.
In the annual audit, Kang has been bombarded with questions from lawmakers regarding pending security matters on the peninsula, including the ongoing defense cost-sharing negotiations between Seoul and Washington.
The 11th round of discussions on cost-sharing for the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), began last month.
Washington is pressing Seoul to pay more amid Trump's "America First" policy slogan, and reportedly asked the government to pay $5 billion (6 trillion won) for the 2020 SMA, but Kang flatly denied this speculation.
"We cannot confirm the exact figure, but the reported number is not what the U.S. asked for. Making public any details over the SMA is not good for our negotiating strategy. The firm stance of the ministry is that we will sign a deal at an appropriate level that the public and the Assembly can agree with," she told the lawmakers.
In a document submitted to the Assembly, the foreign ministry also pledged to keep seeking a diplomatic breakthrough to resolve the ongoing trade and political row with Japan. The political confrontation between Seoul and Tokyo, which began after the Supreme Court here ruled last year that Japanese companies should provide compensation to surviving South Korean victims forced to work for them during the 1910-45 colonial era, is showing little sign of ending.
"We will continue to come up with diplomatic solutions acceptable to the public of the two countries and surviving victims," the ministry said in the document.
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