South Korea claims it is considering talks with North Korea in an effort to improve relations between the two countries. South Korea’ government confirmed a\u2026<\/b>
\nSouth Korea claims it is considering talks with North Korea in an effort to improve relations between the two countries. South Korea’ government confirmed a report by Yohnhap News Agency that the South was mulling a meeting with the North.
Yonhap is a large South Korean news agency. South Korea wants to improve relations with the North after the failure of the recent summit of President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi Vietnam.
An anonymous South Korean official said to Yonhap that the US and North Korea absolutely do not want to revert to the situation before 2017 when there was more conflict and confrontation. Trump and KIm Jong-un walked away from the Hanoi summit last February with any agreement to dismantle the North Korean nuclear weapons program or drop US sanctions. North Korea has since blamed the failure of the meeting on US \u00ab\u00a0gangster-like\u00a0\u00bb demands and has threated to not have any further negotiations with Trump as indicated in the appended video.
However, Yonhap claims that a senior South Korean official said that the US and South Korea had come too far to revert to the previous contentious relationships.
The failed summit
The summit ended on February 28 with no agreement and raising some doubts about the direction of future talks or even if there will be any.
However, Mr Trump and Mr Kim \u201chad very good and constructive meetings in Hanoi\u00a0\u00bb, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement and added: \u201cThe two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearisation and economic-driven concepts. No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future.\u00a0\u00bb However, this may be overly optimistic. Some reports indicate that North Korea is repairing some of its launch facilities.
The Hanoi summit may have been scuttled by hawks in the Trump administration
An article by Mike Whitney argues that Trump gave in to pressure from hawks such as Bolton and Pompeo within the administration. Trump has claimed that Kim had demanded that all sanctions be removed before denuclearization but Whitney notes: \u00ab\u00a0But in a late-night news conference, North Korea\u2019s foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, contradicted Mr. Trump\u2019s account, saying the North had asked only for some sanctions to be lifted \u2014 those that affect ordinary people \u2014 in exchange for \u201cpermanently and completely\u201d dismantling the main facility in the presence of American experts\u2026(\u201cTrump\u2019s Talks With Kim Jong-un Collapse, and Both Sides Point Fingers\u201d, New York Times)\u00a0\u00bb
Trump refused any good faith gesture at all but simply stuck to the usual US hardline approach pushed by the hawks within his administration that takes the position that sanctions will be lifted only after there is complete verifiable denuclearisation by the North. In contrast the North takes a gradualist approach.
Kim has said that he would not resume nuclear and ballistic testing and would participate in future negotiations but the North is obviously ensuring that it has as a backup its previous program. Kim has also continued with peaceful interactions with the South not involving the US. It remains to be seen if the North and the US are able to resume talks again and further lower tensions between the two countries.
This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com<\/p>\n