Kim opens way for talks to thaw Korean relations
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says it is important to continue a reconciliatory mood between the Koreas.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says it is important to continue a reconciliatory mood between the Koreas.
Kim was impressed with Seoul’s welcome of a high-level delegation that returned to Pyongyang yesterday after a three-day visit to the South during the Winter Olympics, the state-owned Korean Central News agency said this morning.
North Korea sent its nominal head of state and Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who extended an invitation to South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang soon.
President Moon didn’t immediately accept the North Korean offer but said the Koreas should create an environment so that a meeting of the two leaders could take place, and he called for a quick resumption of talks between North Korea and the US.
US Vice-President Mike Pence earlier opened the door for such talks, but said Washington would not ease its sanctions policy of applying “maximum pressure” on Pyongyang.
“The point is, no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that (the US and its allies) believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearisation,” Mr Pence said on his return flight from the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
“So maximum pressure is going to continue, and intensify. But if you want to talk, we’ll talk.”
Mr Pence told The Washington Post that he Mr Moon had agreed on potential terms for diplomatic engagement. Talks with the North would first involve Seoul and then, possibly, Washington. The US has no formal diplomatic relations with the North.
The remarks capped a visit by Mr Pence to the Games, where the limelight was stolen by Ms Kim, who was the first immediate family member of the North’s ruling family to visit South Korea, where the media dubbed her “North Korea’s Ivanka”.
She delivered a personal invitation from her brother to Mr Moon to visit Pyongyang. Such a meeting would mark the first inter-Korea summit in more than a decade.
Ms Kim and Mr Moon earlier sat together to watch a united Korean Olympic team play its opening fixture in the women’s ice hockey event as North Korean cheerleaders danced and sang in support.
The show of warmer relations led some analysts to argue that US President Donald Trump risked being outmanoeuvred as Mr Kim drove a wedge between Seoul and the US.
Mr Trump has issued mixed signals on his willingness to engage with the North. It emerged last month that the foreign policy expert in line to be his ambassador to Seoul had been ruled out for voicing concerns about the US contemplating a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. The so-called “bloody nose” attack would be designed to send a message without sparking a wider war. It is widely regarded as one of the riskier options open to Mr Trump.
Just weeks earlier, however, Mr Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he thought his relationship with Mr Kim was “probably very good”.
The Times, AP
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