When Seoul was preparing to open a liaison office in the North Korean city of Kaesong this summer after a decade of virtually no contact\u2026<\/b>
\nWhen Seoul was preparing to open a liaison office in the North Korean city of Kaesong this summer after a decade of virtually no contact with its longtime enemy, South Korean officials had heated debates over whether they should seek approval from Washington.
Some top aides to President Moon Jae-in stressed it was an issue for the two Koreas alone and there was no need to involve their US ally, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters .
But to the surprise of several officials at the meeting, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon argued Washington must be consulted because Seoul\u2019s plans might run afoul of sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.
Two dozen countries including the Britain, Germany and Sweden already have embassies in Pyongyang, and other officials saw the proposed liaison office as a far lower-level of contact with the North.
Student leaders at Ohio State University on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a resolution endorsing the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign…
And they certainly did not expect Cho to be a leading advocate of strict enforcement of sanctions. Cho was Moon\u2019s personal choice to head the ministry, whose prime mission is to foster reconciliation, cooperation and eventual reunification with the North.
Cho, whose 30 year public service history has been inextricably linked to reunification, was even sacked from the ministry in 2008 over his \u201cdovish\u201d stance toward Pyongyang.
At the suggestion of Cho and senior diplomats, Seoul ultimately sought US consent before opening the office in September, one of the sources said.
All the sources spoke to condition of anonymity due to sensitivity of the matter.
Cho declined to comment for this article, but a senior official at the Unification Ministry said it was aware of criticisms of Cho.
\u201cInter-Korean ties are unique in their nature, but it\u2019s been difficult, and there\u2019s North Korea\u2019s duplicity. It\u2019s a dilemma we face, or our fate,\u201d the official said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Chief negotiator, or roadblock?
The previously unreported debate among Moon\u2019s top officials illustrates a growing divide within South Korea over how to progress relations with the North while keeping Washington on side.
Some corners of the administration argue Seoul can\u2019t afford to be seen veering from the US-led sanctions and pressure campaign until Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons program, while others feel closer inter-Korean ties can help expedite the stalled diplomatic process, several officials close to the situation say.
\u201cIf the internal rift leads to moving too quickly with the North without sufficient US consultations, it could pose a setback to not only the nuclear talks but also the alliance and inter-Korean relations,\u201d said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
After the inter-Korean thaw gave way to reconciliation efforts between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump earlier this year, Trump asked Moon to be \u201cchief negotiator\u201d between the two.
That task has become increasingly difficult as Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the faltering nuclear talks.
US officials insist punishing sanctions must remain until North Korea completely denuclearizes. North Korea says it has already made concessions by dismantling key facilities and Washington must reciprocate by easing sanctions and declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
\u201cUnlike other advisers, Minister Cho has balanced his staunch desire for peace with an understanding of the importance of retaining a strong South Korea-US alignment,\u201d said Patrick Cronin of the Center for a New American Security, an Asia expert in close touch with both US and South Korean officials.
\u201cSome alliance discord is inevitable and not worrisome. What would be worrisome would be a clear rupture in South Korea-US approaches for managing North Korea.\u201d
The presidential Blue House declined to comment, but Moon told reporters on Monday the view that there was discord between South Korea and the United States was \u201cgroundless\u201d because there is no difference in the two countries\u2019 positions on the North\u2019s denuclearization.
Slow progress, mounting frustration
A third source familiar with the presidential office\u2019s thinking said there was mounting frustration with Cho within the Blue House and even inside the Unification Ministry amid concerns he worried too much about US views.
\u201cWhat the president would want from him as the unification minister is to come up with bold ideas to make his pet initiatives happen,\u201d the source said.
During three summits this year, Moon and Kim agreed to re-link railways and roads, and when conditions are met, restart the joint factory park in Kaesong and tours to the North\u2019s Mount Kumgang resort that have been suspended for years.
None of those plans have made much headway, either because sanctions ban them outright, or as in the case of Kaesong, Seoul took time to convince skeptical US officials that cross-border projects wouldn\u2019t undermine sanctions.
North Korea itself has been an unpredictable partner. Discussions through the Kaesong office have been few and far between, with Pyongyang\u2019s negotiators often failing to show up for scheduled weekly meetings without notice, Unification Ministry officials say.
Even so, the Kaesong move has caused tensions with Washington.
US officials told Seoul that South Korea\u2019s explanations on the Kaesong office were not \u201csatisfactory,\u201d the South\u2019s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told a parliamentary hearing in August.
Washington was also caught off guard when a group of businessmen who used to operate factories in the now-closed Kaesong industrial park were invited for the opening ceremony of the office, a diplomatic source in Seoul said.
The allies launched a working group last month led by their nuclear envoys to coordinate North Korean policy. It was borne out of US desire to \u201ckeep inter-Korean relations in check,\u201d the source said.
Asked about the Kaesong office, a US State Department official said: \u201cWe expect all member states to fully implement UN sanctions, including sectoral goods banned under UN Security Council resolution, and expect all nations to take their responsibilities seriously to help end (North Korea\u2019s) illegal nuclear and missile programs.\u201d
Another State official said the United States endorsed April\u2019s inter-Korean summit agreement during its own summit with North Korea \u201cbecause progress on inter-Korean relations must happen in lockstep with progress on denuclearization.\u201d
Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Cho in Washington, saying inter-Korean cooperation and progress on nuclear negotiations should \u201cremain aligned.\u201d
\u201cWe have made clear to the Republic of Korea that we do want to make sure that peace on the peninsula and the denuclearization of North Korea aren\u2019t lagging behind the increase in the amount of inter-relationship between the two Koreas,\u201d he told a news briefing a few days after the meeting.
Rock and a hard place
Even as he faced pressure from Washington to hold a tough line, Cho was being criticized for dragging his feet on reconciliation.
In May, the North called off planned talks with the South led by Cho in protest against US-South Korean air combat exercises. When the meeting eventually took place, Cho\u2019s counterpart, Ri Son Gwon, openly blamed Cho for having caused a \u201cgrave situation\u201d that resulted in the cancellation of the talks.
At the Kaesong office opening, factory owners pressed Cho to reopen the complex and said they were dismayed at the Unification Ministry for repeatedly rejecting requests to visit the border city to check on equipment and facilities idled since the 2016 shutdown.
\u201cWe\u2019ve expressed, directly and indirectly, our complaint that the minister may be too lukewarm about our requests, even though allowing the trip has nothing to do with sanctions,\u201d said Shin Han-yong, who chairs a group of businessmen with plants in Kaesong.
Cho recently told the parliament the delays are due to scheduling issues with the North, adding the ministry \u201cneeds more time to explain the overall circumstances\u201d to the international community.
Shin, the expert at Asan, warned any move to undermine sanctions may expose South Korean companies to risks of punishment.
After Moon and Kim\u2019s summit in Pyongyang in September, a senior US Treasury official called compliance officers at seven South Korean banks to warn them that resuming financial cooperation with North Korea \u201cdoes not align with US policies\u201d and the banks must comply with UN and US financial sanctions, according to a South Korean regulatory document.
\u201cRealistically we have no option but to consider US positions, as the top priority is the North\u2019s denuclearization and the United States has the biggest leverage on that,\u201d said Kim Hyung-suk, who served as vice unification minister until last year.
\u201cWithout progress on the nuclear issues, there would be constraints at some point in sustaining inter-Korean ties. And Minister Cho knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n