South Korea is trying to bring both sides back together for more talks.
This story is being published by POLITICO as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It first appearedon scmp.com on March 18,2019.
As talks between Washington and Pyongyang on denuclearization appear to have stalled after last month’s summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without agreement, South Korea is looking for ways to end the impasse.
A statement issued by Seoul’s presidential Blue House on Monday said the time was now right for the two Koreas to hold further talks — building upon President Moon Jae-in’s policy of rapprochement which saw him meet Kim three times last year.
“We’re in a deep agony over how to take advantage of this baton that has been handed over to us,” said the statement, attributed to a high-ranking official.
“We agree with the view that no deal is better than a bad deal… However, in reality, it is difficult to achieve complete denuclearization at one stroke. I think we need to reconsider the so-called all or nothing strategy.”
After last month’s summit in Hanoi was cut short by several hours, Trump told reporters that Pyongyang had wanted “sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldn’t do that… we had to walk away from it.”
North Korea contradicted this claim, with the country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho later saying Pyongyang had made “realistic” proposals in return for a “partial lifting of sanctions”.
