hankyoreh

President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with North Korean Workers‘ Party Central Committee Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol at the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony on Feb. 25 while Ivanka Trump looks on. (Photo Pool)

Amid growing curiosity about the “denuclearization methodology” proposed by President Moon Jae-in through a visiting North Korean delegation to the Pyeongchang Olympics closing ceremony, the Blue House is reportedly watching to see the North’s response following its analysis of the proposal.

The Blue House also dismissed suggestions from some quarters that it first send a special envoy to the US before sending one to North Korea, with some officials cautiously suggesting Seoul first needs to hear Pyongyang’s response and send a special envoy to the North or hold high-level inter-Korean talks as needed in the process.

“We’re examining several options, including a special envoy to the North,” a senior Blue House official said in a Feb. 28 telephone conversation with the Hankyoreh.

“If you look at things in terms of the sequence of their resolution, we need a response from the North to President Moon’s proposal before we’ll have a ‘card’ to discuss matters with the US,” the official explained.

Another Blue House official said, “We don’t really need to send a special envoy to the US because we have permanent information exchanges going on with them through various channels.” The remarks were a reference to the lines between South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and between Blue House National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong and White House National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster.

The response shows the contrasting mood between the Blue House and South Korean conservatives who are demanding a special envoy to Washington before one is sent to Pyongyang and suggesting that Moon urgently needs to visit the US. The Blue House’s remarks about waiting for a response from Pyongyang have some analysts questioning whether Seoul’s proposal was one that the Kim Yong-chol could not respond to immediately as Workers’ Party Central Committee vice chairman and Unified Front Department (UFD) director – positions in which he directly handles the nuclear issue and relations with the US and South Korea.

“We expect it will take some time for the North to analyze various matters and adopt a strategic approach,” a senior Blue House official said.

“While I can’t give any specifics about President Moon’s proposal, I can say that it is not some utterly new and emergent proposal,” the official added. “It doesn’t stray too far from the broader categories that we’ve all been thinking about.”

Some in and around the Blue House are speculating that Moon may have asked Kim about the conditions for Pyongyang’s willingness to speak directly to Washington and then suggested a denuclearization methodology on that basis. If the Blue House does send a special envoy to Pyongyang, the decision is expected to come immediately after North Korea’s response to Moon’s proposal. The North may request the sending of an envoy – and with various communication channels established between South and North for the Pyeongchang Olympics, things could proceed directly to high-level talks.

The problem is that the time for dialogue established by the Olympics is running out. Barring any major changes, the joint South Korea-US military exercises postponed due to the Pyeongchang Olympics and Paralympics are likely to resume in April. Moon is also planning to travel overseas in late March. Failure to produce visible changes before the end of March stands to pose a major burden on both South and North, as well as the US and other countries involved in Korean Peninsula issues.

The worst-case scenario would be one where the opportunity is ignored, the military exercises are resumed in April, and North Korea engages in provocations in response, prompting stiffer sanctions from the US and international community that once again raise the threat of war seen last year. Conversely, North Korea could start a positive feedback loop for actual dialogue with the US by declaring a halt to its nuclear and missile testing and presenting a more practical plan for discussions with Washington, D.C.

By Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporter

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