Blue House denies report S. Korea, N. Korea are in talks over summit

Posted on : 2021-07-29 17:52 KST Modified on : 2021-07-29 17:52 KST
Reuters sources’ also said South and North Korea are currently discussing the idea of rebuilding the inter-Korean liaison office in Panmunjom
The Blue House (Hankyoreh photo archives)
The Blue House (Hankyoreh photo archives)

Reuters reported Wednesday that the South Korean government is currently in talks with North Korea about reopening their joint liaison office and holding a summit. The Blue House denied the report but left open the possibility of holding a virtual summit.

In its report, Reuters quoted three officials in the South Korean government saying that South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have explored ways to improve the two sides’ strained relationship in a series of letters exchanged since April.

Two of these officials said that South and North Korea are currently discussing the idea of rebuilding the inter-Korean liaison office in Panmunjom, which the North Koreans detonated last year. Reuters’ sources also said that Seoul and Pyongyang are exploring the possibility of Moon and Kim holding a summit, but that they haven’t discussed the specific timing because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The talks are still ongoing, and COVID-19 should be the biggest factor,” one source told Reuters. “A face-to-face meeting is the best, but hopefully, the situation will get better.”

Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House’s senior secretary for public communication, said the previous day that the question of rebuilding the inter-Korean liaison office would be discussed but that Moon and Kim haven’t offered a plan for a summit yet.

Another government source told Reuters that a virtual summit might be an option if North Korea declines to hold an in-person meeting because of COVID-19.

“If we can do that and the North has that capability, it would make a big difference, and open so many windows of opportunity, something to restart talks with the United States,” the source said.

“The first source said Moon and Kim had exchanged ‘candid’ letters on more than 10 occasions,” Reuters reported. “The two sides agreed over the weekend to reactivate hotlines as a first step.”

“A third source said the two Koreas only announced the hotline reopening because little progress was made over other issues, including how Pyongyang would apologize for blowing up the liaison office,” Reuters added.

The Blue House denied that South and North Korea are in talks about holding a summit as claimed in the Reuters report.

“A report in the foreign press that talks are underway about an inter-Korean summit isn’t true, as we’ve already said. That hasn’t been discussed,” Blue House spokesperson Park Kyung-mee wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

The Blue House said the same thing the previous day when reporters asked about the possibility of holding another inter-Korean summit, whether in person or remotely.

But since the restoration of the hotlines serves as a stepping stone toward improving inter-Korean relations, a remote summit remains a possibility, given the current pandemic situation.

“Now that the hotlines have been reconnected, we can proceed with addressing the backlog of unresolved issues in inter-Korean relations,” another official at the Blue House told the Hankyoreh over the phone.

“President Moon has proposed holding video discussions with North Korea before. We could set the goal of holding a virtual summit.”

South Korea’s Unification Ministry already spent 400 million won (US$347,819) setting up a video conference room in its office for inter-Korean dialogue in the Samcheong neighborhood of Seoul’s Jongno District in April, based on the growing need for virtual discussions with North Korea.

There are reportedly few technical obstacles to holding inter-Korean talks over video.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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

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