Questions surround Kim Jong-un’s “separate message” to President Trump

Posted on : 2018-03-12 17:21 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
North Korea may have proposed returning three American detainees or sending a special envoy to the US prior to a May summit
Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong speaks at a press conference outside the White House following his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Mar. 8. He is flanked by National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon (left) and South Korean ambassador the US
Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong speaks at a press conference outside the White House following his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Mar. 8. He is flanked by National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon (left) and South Korean ambassador the US

A senior South Korean government official’s remarks about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un conveying “another message” besides his summit proposal to US President Donald Trump through a special envoy’s delegation that recently visited Pyongyang is raising questions about what the content may have been. The remarks came during a talk with South Korean correspondents in Washington on Mar. 9, as the official responded to questions about the message Kim wanted communicated to Trump.

“There was a message that he wanted given to the US,” the official said, adding that they could “not disclose everything that was exchanged between the heads of state.”

When asked for specifics, the official said the message was “part of trust-building efforts to ensure that the summit happens.” When asked if it concerned denuclearization, the official replied only that it was “very comprehensive in content.”

The official also responded in the negative to a follow-up question about whether the message concerned Trump viewing North Korea’s denuclearization as sincere. At the same time, the official said that Blue House National Security Office director Chung Eui-yong and other special envoy’s delegation members had verbally shared a message from Kim in a meeting with Trump at the White House the day before, adding that the response from Trump had been “very positive.”

The message from Pyongyang to Washington shared by Chung at a Mar. 8 press conference at the White House concerned four main points: a proposal for a North Korea-US summit, Pyongyang’s willingness to denuclearize, a moratorium on nuclear and missile testing, and Kim’s “understanding” about regular South Korea-US joint military exercises. With all of them concerning major issues, some are speculating that the “separate message” may have also included an unprecedented proposal.

Analysts agreed that one message that would meet the four conditions the senior South Korean official named at the talk with foreign correspondents – part of trust-building efforts, comprehensive content, unrelated to the sincerity of North Korea’s denuclearization, and something Trump would respond positively to – would be a US visit by a North Korean special envoy or senior official.

“We can’t say for certain, but in logical terms it looks like a senior-level visit,” a senior South Korean government official said.

“The summit agenda and other matters need to be coordinated anyway,” the official added.

If North Korea did propose a visit by a special envoy or senior official, the response from Trump could be seen as signaling his agreement. Depending on which envoy or official it is, the visit’s impact could be as explosive as the summit proposal. In a Mar. 8 report, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted an anonymous South Korean foreign affairs source as saying that Kim Jong-un was considering sending his younger sister, Workers’ Party Central Committee first vice director Kim Yo-jong, as a special envoy to the US.

Some are speculating Kim’s “separate message” may have concerned the release of three Korean-Americans currently detained in North Korea. The release of the three Americans could be seen as a predicted move ahead of the North Korea-US summit. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Mike Pompeo are set to visit Pyongyang in connection with the matter, and a North Korean special envoy could travel to Washington as a “return visit.” But with the senior South Korean government official describing the additional message as “comprehensive in content,” the release of the Americans would seem to represent too narrow an issue.

North Korea may pursue reforms to establish itself as a “normal state”

Analysts also suggested Kim may have shared North Korea’s plans to pursue reforms and openness and establish itself as a “normal state.” This is based on speculation that the impromptu acceptance of the summit proposal by Trump – normally deeply distrustful of North Korea – after hearing only about its intent to denuclearize from the South Korean delegation may have been due to the additional message that was shared.

Experts are further speculating that the message may concern the stationing of US troops in South Korea – and specifically Kim’s proposal to allow them to remain in place even after diplomatic relations are established and a peace agreement signed between North Korea and the US. In 1992, then-North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, sent Workers’ Party international secretary Kim Yong-sun to the US to call for diplomatic relations, sending the message that Pyongyang would no longer demand the withdrawal of US troops.

When South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Pyongyang for an inter-Korean summit in June 2000, then-leader Kim Jong-il told him, “In terms of Northeast Asian dynamics, it would be acceptable to have US troops here in the interest of keeping the peace on the [Korean] Peninsula.”

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent and Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporter

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

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