South Korean President Moon Jae-in and NK leader Kim Jong-un will hold summit talks at Panmunjom on April 27 to discuss North Korea’s path to denuclearization, establishing a new peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean ties.
The world will be glued to the Peace House on the southern sector of Panmunjom, where the president and his North Korean counterpart will meet as the third-inter Korean summit between the two Koreas will be televised live. The first inter-Korean summit took place in 2000 and the second was held in 2007. The inter-Korean talks will serve as a litmus test on whether the subsequent US-NK summit talks in May or June will be held successfully.
Preparations for the upcoming inter-Korean summit are progressing smoothly. A hotline connecting Cheong Wa Dae and NK leader Kim’s office was opened on April 20. President Moon and NK leader Kim are expected to talk over the hot line before they will hold summit talks.
North Korea held a plenary session of its ruling party’s central committee on April 20 to revise the “byeongjin” policy, designed to parallel nuclear development and the economy, which was stipulated in the NK constitution. Following the meeting, NK announced a statement calling for dismantling the Punggaeri nuclear testing site, where six nuclear tests were conducted and a “new strategic line” focusing economic development. The statement from the meeting, presided over by NK leader Kim, said that NK decided to stop nuclear testing and firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Changing an armistice agreement signed after the end of the Korean War into a peace treaty is under consideration. The issue of declaring an end of the Korean War and changing an armistice pact into a peace regime is a multiparty task, not only inter-Korean, since the signatories of the pact are the United States, China and North Korea. South Korean President Syngman Rhee refused to sign it.
In a related development, the United States and China offered official support to the idea of declaring an end of the Korean War, which will likely boost the possibility of adopting the idea as agenda of inter-Korean summit talks. The U.S. State Department said the United States is officially backing a move to end the Korean War, reconfirming President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks.
The President Moon government is considering putting the idea and others at a statement the two Koreas will adopt following the end of the upcoming summit talks. But human rights abuses by North Korea are ruled out, South Korean official said.
In a luncheon with presidents of press outlets at Cheong Wa Dae on April 19, President Moon said North Korea expressed willingness to take a path to full-fledged denuclearization, but did not offer such preconditions as the withdrawing of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, a move the United States cannot accept. Presidential National Advisor Chung Ui-yong, who was sent to North Korea as President Moon’s special envoy, earlier delivered NK leader Kim’s intent on denuclearization, but it was the first time President Moon talked about Kim’s willingness toward the issue.
President Moon’ remarks on Kim’s willingness appears to mean a complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID), demanded by the international community.
North Korea touched on only these, an end of hostile policies and guaranteeing security, President Moon said. Moon said realizing details of denuclearization is not easy, however, North Korea experts on nuclear arms shared the view that it is possible pressure North Korea ahead of inter-Korean summit talks, but warned against being too optimistic based on only NK’s words.
Comparing the inter-Korean talks in 2007, President Moon said NK’s nuclear arsenal and missiles have been updated incomparably between before and now. He said the international community’s sanctions, coupled with ones by the United States, are now being imposed stringently, so there are not many parts in which the two Koreas can deal with and reach agreements. The solving of North Korean nuclear issues could lead to an easing of international sanctions against NK and subsequent advancement of inter-Korean ties, he added.
Among President Moon’s entourage to the inter-Korean talks are Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Jong-seok, Presidential Security Adviser Chung, National Intelligence Service Chief Suh Hoon, Unification Minister Cho Myung-gyun, Defense Minister Song Young-moo, and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa.
U.S. President Trump reaffirmed that the purpose of the upcoming US-NK summit talk is to achieve NK’s denuclearization. Trump made the remarks following the end of his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Abe at Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida.
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