By Lee Min-hyung
| U.S. President Donald Trump |
This was in response to Kim's New Year address on Tuesday when he said he is “ready to meet with Trump again anytime.” This has raised expectations for the two to meet in the near future and sign a big deal to break the ongoing deadlock in the denuclearization talks.
“I also look forward to meeting with Kim who realizes so well that North Korea possesses great economic potential,” Trump tweeted Tuesday (local time).
In recent months, Pyongyang and Washington have expressed their firm determination to have their second leadership meeting at the earliest possible date. Calls have grown for an urgent need to hold the summit, as the two countries have failed to make outstanding progress in negotiations over the specific timeline and methods of the North's denuclearization after their first summit last June.
Trump's remark on “the North's economic potential” is seen as part of a bargaining chip to urge the regime's speedy denuclearization. Trump has repeatedly underlined that North Korea will achieve economic prosperity once it continues walking on the right path for complete denuclearization.
In his New Year address, Kim also expressed his firm determination to develop the regime's economy this year. “Economy” topped the list of the most frequently mentioned terms in his address.
Trump, however, did not address Kim's warning message that the North would seek a “new way” unless Washington takes reciprocal steps in denuclearization negotiations.
Warning signal
No outstanding bellicose rhetoric was seen in Kim's address this year, but he maintained tension against the U.S. by vowing to seek a “new way” if Washington continues stepping up sanctions and pressure on Pyongyang.
Kim said if the U.S. misjudges the patience of the North, it may have no choice but to seek a new way. But the North Korean leader did not specify what he meant by “new way.”
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said “new way” does not mean Pyongyang considers going back to resuming nuclear development and staging military provocations.
“The military option, such as nuclear development, is not a new way, but an old way,” he said in a local radio interview Wednesday.
He said the new way refers to Kim's strategy of bringing in China and Russia to the denuclearization dialogue table.
“My view is that Kim is seeking to take diplomatic advantage of China's power at a time when the U.S. intensifies pressure against the North,” he said.
Chances are Kim will urge the U.S. to ease a series of sanctions imposed on the North by teaming up with its neighboring countries such as China and Russia, according to Jeong.
The former unification chief urged the South Korean government to play a more active mediating role for the U.S. not to misinterpret Kim's remarks.
A number of media outlets want to translate “new way” as the North's outward threat to restart its nuclear armament, which is far from the truth, Jeong said.
“Cheong Wa Dae and the South's Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to deliver a detailed account of Kim's New Year address to their U.S. counterparts, as Washington may misunderstand the gist of the address,” the former unification minister said.