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| U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, right, speaks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center, during their visit to Osan Air Base in South Korea, Sunday. Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
The United States and North Korea are considering establishing a diplomatic communication office amid renewed hopes for resumption of their suspended nuclear talks.
The plan came in response to a surprise mini-summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday when the two leaders agreed to end their months-long nuclear stalemate and resume dialogue for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Following the de facto third summit, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Washington is ready to "make concessions" to the North and be more flexible in their upcoming nuclear talks.
"There are things we can do in the meantime to make concessions towards Kim, such as humanitarian aid, expanded people-to-people talks, presence in each other's capitals," Biegun told White House reporters on board U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's airplane during their way home from South Korea, according to U.S.-based media outlet Axios.
It remains unknown whether North Korea will accept the proposal to establish liaison offices in Washington and Pyongyang.
Political analysts here said the move is part of the Trump administration's strategy of continuing to build trust with the North and stopping its provocations at a time when potential candidates for the 2020 U.S. presidential election are already campaigning.
"The proposal to establish liaison offices in Washington and Pyongyang is one of the incentives offered to the North to stop its military provocations," said Park Won-gon, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University.
"The top priority of Trump's policy drives on the North is to prevent it from engaging in any missile tests or military provocations," the professor said. If Pyongyang undergoes any missile tests or shows threatening military gestures again, this will spend the failure of Trump's North Korea policy, which is the worst-case scenario for Trump and his presidential re-election, Park argued.
Aside from the incentive packages, Washington also expressed its determination to discuss a "complete freeze" of the North's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.
"What we are looking for is a complete freeze of WMD programs," Biegun was quoted as saying.
The remark was aimed at displaying Washington's firm determination not to make full concessions to the North's demands by providing such incentives.
Axios went on to report that Biegun said Trump is "not ready to lift sanctions against North Korea" unless it freezes its weapons program.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Seoul's ultimate goal over the North Korea issue remains unwavering: the complete denuclearization of the peninsula.
"The South Korean government remains unchanged in its goal of achieving the North's complete denuclearization," Kang said in a National Assembly meeting, Wednesday. She also underlined the freeze of the North's WMD program should not be the end goal in the nuclear talks with the North.
But it is premature to say whether such incentive packages can play an effective role in helping build a longer-term dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
This is because the North has stepped up criticism of the South's plan to provide rice to Pyongyang, calling the move nothing more than a "political showing."
The South's unification ministry plans to deliver 50,000 tons of rice to the North by the end of September in partnership with the World Food Programme.
The failed Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim in February showed that what the North wants is sanctions relief in exchange for its phased nuclear disarmament. But with Trump declining the offer, the historic second meeting between the two unpredictable leaders ended up in a breakdown.
Park said the time is ripe for the South Korean government to shift its strategy in handling the nuclear issue.
"The meeting between Trump and Kim at the inter-Korean border proved both sides can communicate with each other without the South's mediating role," he said.
"With the mood for peace rekindling following the mini-summit, Seoul needs to contact its neighbors, such as Beijing and Moscow, and continue to request their help to bring lasting peace here," the professor said.
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who also attended the Assembly meeting, said the government will continue to support the reviving positive mood for peace on the peninsula following the recent summit between Trump and Kim.
