hankyoreh

Tony Namkung

Tony Namkung, former assistant director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said he would “not be surprised” to see the North Korean and US leaders agree on the establishment of a joint liaison office in their upcoming first-ever summit, which comes on the heels of an inter-Korean summit last month.

The interview with Namkung took place at a hotel in downtown Washington, DC, on May 1. Namkung played a key mediating role between South and North Korea during former President Jimmy Carter’s 1994 visit to North Korea and the 2010 release of detained US journalists, and has also contributed substantially to getting the ball rolling with North Korea-US negotiations since the arrival of the Donald Trump administration.

Hankyoreh (Hani): What is the most distinguishing aspect of the inter-Korean summit’s outcome?

Tony Namkung (Namkung): There are people who argue that the “Panmunjeom Declaration” is very similar to past declarations and statements concerning inter-Korean relations, but from my standpoint it’s quite different. To begin with, the word “unification” is hardly mentioned, appearing just once or twice in the title and text. This signals North Korea’s willingness to accept South Korea as an equal partner and a separate, sovereign state rather than a part of the US. Before that, North Korea had been referring to South Korea as a “US puppet administration” and a “state without legitimacy.”

Hani: With the North Korea-US summit coming, there has been talk about the release of the three Americans under detention in North Korea.

Namkung: I’m not sure when that will happen, but they will definitely be released. North Korea already hinted at that around last October. At the time, it suggested the possibility of implementing humanitarian measures on areas like the unearthing of the remains of US MIA(missing in action)s and reunions involving divided family members in the US.

Hani: There doesn’t seem to have been any public statement about that from North Korea.

Namkung: It was off the record, obviously. So while I don’t know whether it will happen before or during the summit, the three American detainees will definitely be released.

Hani: Some critics are still maintaining that President Trump acted impulsively in agreeing to the summit.

Namkung: That’s not the case at all. President Trump knows exactly what he is doing. His approach is different from his predecessors. They treated the North Koreans like criminals. It was a kind of “crime and punishment” model: North Korea had committed a crime, and they were willing to reward it if it confessed. But President Trump is trying to negotiate with North Korea as he would with a business partner. He’s treating North Korea like an equal partner. He communicated that message to North Korea very clearly last year. I think that’s why North Korea showed up for negotiations and made its dramatic proposal.

Hani: It seems like the timeline for complete denuclearization has been a sticking point in prior discussions for the North Korea-US summit.

Namkung: The amount of time it takes to achieve denuclearization depends entirely on how quickly the North Korean and US leaders agree to each other’s demands. So denuclearization could happen quickly, or things could drag on for a long time. If you look at the political pressures he’s facing at home with the midterm election this year and the presidential election in 2020, President Trump is going to want to move quickly, and Kim Jong-un is also trying to move quickly.