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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands after their bilateral summit in Port Moresby

During their summit on Nov. 17, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly expressed the view that “the time is ripening for resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula.”

The two leaders also agreed to work together closely for the success of the North Korea-US summit. It’s notable that the two leaders share the same view of the situation and pledged their cooperation at a time when the North Korea-US negotiations are at a major crossroads. Based on the view that North Korea-US negotiations will ultimately turn out positively, despite the recent lack of progress, South Korea and China’s promise of cooperation appears to be aimed at urging North Korea and the US to stop dragging things out and actively engage themselves in the negotiations.

The North Korea-US negotiations appear to be obstructing Korean Peninsula affairs. Movement toward improving inter-Korean relations is apparent in various areas. An inter-Korean joint celebration was held at Mt. Kumgang on Nov. 18 to mark the 20th anniversary of tourism to the area, and a North Korean delegation led by Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, visited South Korea last week.

But despite such public events, progress on genuine exchange and cooperation between South and North Korea is being blocked by the dispute between North Korea and the US over denuclearization.

What’s even more worrisome is that the “battle of nerves” between North Korea and the US appears to be heating up, rather than cooling down. Over the weekend, North Korea suddenly ran reports showing Kim Jong-un supervising the test of tactical weapons, representing an elliptical message to the US that North Korea won’t play nice if things don’t go its way. While attending the ASEAN Plus Three summit, US Vice President Mike Pence pressured North Korea to release a roadmap for dismantling its nuclear program during its second summit with the US.

Under such circumstances as these, it’s of no small significance that the leaders of South Korea and China promised to be proactive about overcoming the recent deadlock on Korean Peninsula issues while pledging to work closely together. Considering that Pence asked Moon to communicate more closely with North Korea a few days ago, the leaders of South Korea and China can also be seen as committing themselves to actively comply with Pence’s request.

It is accurate to say that the two leaders’ statement that the second North Korea-US summit and Kim Jong-un’s reciprocal visit to Seoul are a watershed moment in resolving issues on the Korean Peninsula. This also apparently represented an appeal for Kim to quickly pay a reciprocal visit to Seoul. Xi reportedly told Moon that he is planning to visit both Seoul and Pyongyang next year. We hope that South Korea-China cooperation on Korean Peninsula issues will help prime the pump on North Korea-US nuclear negotiations.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]