Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Monday urged North Korea to engage in dialogue, saying recent remarks by US President Donald Trump suggest the door to talks remains open.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Chung said that South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok’s recent meeting with Trump reaffirmed the US president’s continued interest in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“We need to keep the spark of US-North Korea dialogue alive,” Chung said. “I hope the North will not miss this opportunity.”
Chung’s remarks came after Kim Min-seok met Trump at the White House last week, where the prime minister also held meetings with senior US officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
According to the prime minister, Trump expressed a positive view toward meeting the North Korean leader again but indicated that the timing of such a meeting remains uncertain. “President Trump said meeting Kim Jong-un would be a good thing,” Kim told reporters after the talks. “But he also said it could take place during his visit to China, after the trip or possibly not at that time.”
Trump is planning to travel to China between late March and early April for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, raising speculation that he could attempt to revive his personal diplomacy with Kim during the trip.
Chung said that US-North Korea dialogue would be in the interest of the entire Korean Peninsula and stressed that efforts to resume talks should continue.
He also referred to a meeting between Trump and the North Korean leader that had been expected during Trump’s October visit to South Korea but ultimately did not take place.
“In that sense, I believe President Trump may have been asking whether Chairman Kim Jong-un truly intends to meet him,” Chung said.
Chung added that renewed talks between the US and North Korea would serve the broader interests of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and “must be realized.”
Chung was also asked what steps Washington might need to take to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. He replied that Pyongyang has long made clear the conditions it wants addressed.
“North Korea has repeatedly demanded a shift in what it calls the US hostile policy and recognition of its status as a nuclear weapons state as stipulated in its constitution,” Chung said. “I believe the US will likely have to deliberate carefully within that framework.”
When asked about North Korea’s latest test involving multiple rocket launchers, Chung said he saw it "mainly as a reaction to the South Korea-US combined military exercises." The South Korea-US annual spring Freedom Shield exercise kicked off on March 9 and will run for 10 days.
Chung said he is not aware of any particular contacts taking place when asked whether Trump’s remarks about potential talks with North Korea suggested that behind-the-scenes communication between Washington and Pyongyang may already be underway.
Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made similar remarks during a major ruling party congress, saying Pyongyang has “no reason not to get along with the United States” if Washington withdraws what it calls its hostile policy, while adding that the future of bilateral relations depends entirely on the US attitude.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
