‘US should be willing to enter into unconditional talks with NK'

By Kim Jae-kyoung

South Korean President Moon Jae-in should make it clear that North Korea should place denuclearization on the agenda if it really wants an inter-Korean summit, according to a former high-ranking U.S. diplomat.

He said that without raising the issue, the summit will be just an empty meeting jeopardizing relations between South Korea and the United States, and other allies.

"The proposed summit could improve inter-Korean relations," Joseph DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks with North Korea, said in an interview.

"Certainly, those bilateral humanitarian issues, like reuniting separated families, could be discussed and, with progress, help improve relations," he added.

However, DeTrani, who helped broker a 2005 agreement on North Korea's nuclear program, stressed that talk about denuclearization must be at the top of the agenda.

"Ideally, Moon will make it clear to Pyongyang that he would also want to discuss the core nuclear issues that have soured North Korea's relations with South Korea and others," said DeTrani.

"Indeed, a summit without any discussion of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would be very unfortunate," he said. "It would be a message to North Korea that eventually they will be accepted as a nuclear weapons state."

His advice came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited President Moon to visit Pyongyang through his younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, who visited South Korea last weekend as part of the North's high-level delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Moon refused to immediately accept the offer, calling for efforts "to create the necessary conditions."

DeTrani, currently a professor at Missouri State University's Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies in Fairfax, Virginia, said that the invitation was aimed at relieving sanctions and sowing the division between Seoul and Washington.

He pointed out that Pyongyang's charm offensive using the Winter Games came after the young North Korean leader raised tensions with a series of nuclear and missile tests over the past years in the face of continued sanctions.

"Sanctions are hurting North Korea and joint military exercises are becoming more intense, a powerful deterrence message to Pyongyang," he said.

"Participating in the Olympics could, ideally, relieve some of this pressure on North Korea. It could also possibly engender tension between South Korea and the U.S., a long term goal of North Korea."

He expects that a summit that will deal with inter-Korean humanitarian and nuclear issues could result in follow-on multiparty discussions with North Korea, similar to the 2005 six-party talks process that committed North Korea to complete verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its active nuclear weapons programs.

Regarding U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's statement that Washington would be open to possible talks, he said, "My view is that the U.S. should be willing to enter into unconditional discussions with North Korea."

But in order for that to happen, he said, "During these discussions North Korea will refrain from missile launches and nuclear tests."

The veteran negotiator called on Moon to be resolute and continue to work closely with the U.S. in pushing his engagement strategy while not damaging bilateral relations.

"Be open to discussions with the North, but they should be principled discussions, dealing not only with inter-Korea bilateral humanitarian issues, but also with the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he said.