South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the Washington Post in remarks published Wednesday that Seoul is seeking to convince the United States and North Korea to exchange the shutdown of Pyongyang’s Yongbyon nuclear research site for a peace treaty to end the Korean War.
Yongbyon is a facility believed to feature at least one nuclear reactor and technology to enrich and prepare nuclear material to be used in the harnessing of energy. It is not a nuclear bomb testing site or weapons development site, but the material developed there can be used to further North Korea’s illegal development of nuclear weapons.
Talks between the United States and North Korea have stalled since President Donald Trump and dictator Kim Jong-un met in Singapore in June, as North Korea has refused to take concrete steps towards denuclearization without international sanctions. The Trump administration has steadfastly refused to reward the communist regime with sanctions relief if Kim does not completely shut down its illegal nuclear program.
Kang’s remarks to the Washington Post indicate that the left-wing government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in believe it is impossible to move forward on negotiations without some concessions to North Korea.
“What North Korea has indicated is they will permanently dismantle their nuclear facilities in Yongbyon, which is a very big part of their nuclear program,” Kang reportedly said, according to the Post. “If they do that in return for America’s corresponding measures, such as the end-of-war declaration, I think that’s a huge step forward for denuclearization.”
North Korea has repeatedly used its propaganda arms to demand a formal end to the Korean War. The Korean War began in 1950 and warring sides stopped actively fighting as per an armistice agreement in 1953, but the war has not technically ended it. Both Koreas, China, and the United States would have to sign a peace treaty to end the war.
Kang rejected the idea of demanding that Pyongyang present a detailed list of all its nuclear assets before the U.S. side of negotiations continue.
“The past experience shows that the list and the verification about the list takes a lot of back-and-forth, and I think the last time things broke down precisely as we were working out a detailed protocol on verification after we had gotten the list,” Kang noted. “We want to take a different approach.”
Kang did note that “we will have to see an inventory at some point,” but that the timing was inappropriate currently for such a demand.
Also inappropriate for current discussions, Kang claimed, was pressuring North Korea to respect the human rights of its citizens.
North Korea is considered the world’s most repressive country. The World Bank ranked it the worst-governed state in the world in its 2018 Worldwide Governance Indicators, which found North Korea sorely lacking in adequate respect for freedom of speech, rule of law, and regulatory quality. North Korea is believed to operate up to six labor camps whose population estimates range between 100,000 to 200,000 people, many imprisoned under allegations of being insufficiently loyal to the Kim regime, identifying with any faith, or being related to people accused of these counter-revolutionary behaviors.
North Korean defectors living in the South have vocally demanded the Moon government advocate on their behalf, which appears unlikely given Kang’s comments on Thursday.
“The North Korean human rights situation is a global issue, and we are part of the global discussions,” Kang said. “There are times to raise these issues. Certainly not at this time, when we very much need to move forward on the denuclearization issue.”
Kang reiterated her call for concessions to the Kim regime during a press conference Thursday.
“It’s necessary to match denuclearization measures and reciprocal ones, which North Korea needs, with flexibility,” Kang told reporters in Seoul, claiming that Washington was showing “some flexibility” in discussions.
American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to travel to Pyongyang and meet with Kim Jong-un personally on Sunday, his third such meeting. Pompeo was initially planning to travel to North Korea in August, but President Trump canceled the meeting following repeated belligerent remarks against the United States from North Korean officials. The State Department expressed optimism that Pompeo will reach a breakthrough with the regime during this visit.
“These conversations are going in the right direction, and we feel confident enough to hop a plane to head there to continue the conversations,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday.