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| Moon Chung-in, special presidential adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs, speaks in a panel discussion at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
The United States and North Korea should refrain from upsetting each other to resume the stalled momentum for dialogue, according to President Moon Jae-in's security adviser, Moon Chung-in, Tuesday.
"Washington is willing to hold talks (with the North), so the dialogue momentum has yet to be broken," Moon said in a forum hosted by the Kwanhun Club, an association of senior journalists, in Seoul.
"Both sides should exercise restraint to keep the momentum going," he said. "They are (equally) responsible for the breakdown of the recent summit."
He also shared his views on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's possible visit to Seoul.
The adviser said Kim is unlikely to visit Seoul in the near future, as there is nothing he can gain from South Korea at the moment.
"As of now, there is little possibility for Kim to visit Seoul, as he will likely receive 'no gifts' from the South, such as the resumption of tourism to the North's Mount Geumgang and operation of the now-closed Gaeseong Industrial Complex," he said.
Kim promised to make a return visit to Seoul last year after a three-day summit with President Moon in Pyongyang last September. But the much-anticipated Seoul summit has yet to take place, with the North declining to confirm a timeline for his possible trip here.
"President Moon and Kim may hold an unofficial meeting at the truce village of Panmunjeom, but it will not be easy for him to visit Seoul," the special presidential adviser for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs said.
The resumption of Mount Geumgang and the Gaeseong Industrial Complex can be made possible after the United Nations Security Council eases sanctions on the regime.
Sanction exemption is what the North wants the most in exchange for its steps toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
All eyes were on whether the U.S. would offer to help ease heavy sanctions on the regime during the recent summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.
But they failed to sign a deal during their second meeting in Hanoi last month, putting a brake on the recent dialogue momentum between the two.
The regime's young leader offered to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear facilities and requested a partial lifting of sanctions during the meeting with Trump. The U.S. leader, however, declined to accept the proposal and urged the regime to take more detailed and verifiable steps.
"The 'all for all' or 'all or nothing' is the stance from the U.S. in the denuclearization talks with the North," the presidential adviser said. "But the North sought to sign a small deal by offering to take 'step-by-step' denuclearization measures, and the two countries failed to narrow their difference in the end."
But he said it is too early to say that the Hanoi summit ended up in a total failure, as both sides still opened the possibility for future negotiations.
"It is very difficult for the U.S. to resolve the North's four-decade-long nuclear issues by holding the two summits," he said.
