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NKOREA-SKOREA-NUCLEAR-DIPLOMACY
S. Korea president says North’s Kim to visit Seoul ‘soon’
SEOUL, Nov 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit
Seoul “soon”, the South’s President Moon Jae-in said Thursday, amid a rapid
diplomatic thaw on the peninsula despite stalled nuclear talks between
Pyongyang and Washington.
At their third summit in Pyongyang in September, the leaders of the two
Koreas agreed Kim would visit Seoul “in the near future” without giving a
specific date.
Moon later suggested that the trip was likely to happen this year, and told
lawmakers Thursday that the peninsula was approaching “the historic starting
line” for peace.
“It appears that Chairman Kim Jong Un’s trip to Russia and a visit to North
Korea by (Chinese) President Xi Jinping will happen soon,” Moon said, adding
there was an “open” possibility of a meeting between Kim and Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe.
“Chairman Kim Jong Un’s return visit to Seoul will happen soon,” he added.
No further detail was given.
But despite the flurry of diplomatic activity on and around the peninsula
differences are emerging between Seoul and its security ally Washington,
which stations 28,500 troops in the South to protect it from its neighbour.
At their historic Singapore summit, brokered by Moon, Kim and US President
Donald Trump signed a vaguely-worded statement on denuclearisation but there
has been little progress since then.
Washington and Pyongyang have sparred over the exact terms of the
agreement, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions and pressure against the
North until its “final, fully verified denuclearisation”.
The dovish South Korean president has long favoured engagement with the
North, which is subject to multiple UN Security Council sanctions over its
nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. He has dangled large investment and
joint cross-border projects as incentives for steps towards denuclearisation.
Concerns have been raised that such schemes could violate the sanctions
against the North, while the US has been adamant pressure should be
maintained on Pyongyang until it fully dismantles its weapons programmes. The
State Department said this week that Seoul and Washington would set up a new
working group to strengthen coordination between them.
Moon said a second Trump-Kim summit was “right before our eyes”.
“Now the South, the North, and the United States will achieve the complete
denuclearisation and lasting peace on the Korean peninsula,” he said.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has suggested the next meeting between
Trump and Kim will be “hopefully early in the next year, where we can make a
substantial breakthrough in taking down the nuclear threat from North Korea”.
But in September, the North’s foreign minister told the United Nations
there was “no way” his country would disarm first as long as tough US
sanctions remain against his country.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1204 hrs