Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un will walk across the Demilitarized Zone on Friday for a historic summit with the South’s President Moon Jae-In, the highest-level encounter yet in a whirlwind of nuclear diplomacy.
Pyongyang’s atomic arsenal will be high on the agenda the first time one of its rulers sets foot in the South since the Korean War ended 65 years ago, and a peace treaty to formally end the conflict could also be discussed.
The meeting on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom — only the third of its kind after two in Pyongyang, the last 11 years ago — is intended to pave the way for a highly anticipated encounter between Kim and US President Donald Trump.
It comes after a rapid and spectacular diplomatic dance on the peninsula, orchestrated by Moon and set to the beat of the Winter Olympics in the South.
Kim sent a delegation headed by his sister to the Games and offered to put denuclearisation on the table in exchange for security guarantees. Trump accepted his proposal for a summit, and Kim went to Beijing to pay his respects to ally China in his first overseas trip as leader.
It is a stunning contrast from last year, when Pyongyang carried out its sixth and by far most powerful nuclear test to date and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland, while Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.
The UN Security Council imposed several more sets of sanctions on the North, including measures targeting its crucial coal, fishing and textiles sectors, along with oil imports.
Washington is demanding Pyongyang give up the weapons it has spent decades developing and says it needs to protect itself from a US invasion.
At the weekend, Pyongyang announced a moratorium on nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile launches, with Kim saying it had completed its goal.
It made no further commitments, but that did not stop Trump tweeting: “We haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!”
On Monday, Moon said it was “a significant decision towards total denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
But the North has declared moratoriums before, and has also talked about denuclearisation, while previous agreements have ultimately foundered.
“There are many different ways to interpret North Korean wordings — literal interpretation, reading between the lines, or reading it in reflection of one’s own hopes,” said Koh Yu-Hwan, professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University.
All three players had different motivations in the current process, he said.
“The most urgent thing for Trump is preventing North Korea from completing an ICBM. For North Korea, it’s preventing a US military strike and negotiate as a nuclear power to improve its economy.
“South Korea wants to bring North Korea and the US to dialogue for a peaceful resolution and to revive South-North ties.” — AFP
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