hankyoreh

Former unification minister Lee Jong-seok (center) during his keynote address at a forum called “Assessment of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Assessment and Outlook for the North Korea-US Summit” at the National Assembly on May 3. The forum was organized by Institute for Democracy

“North Korea appears to want the establishment of a new system of regime security. The message seems to be that it will give up its nuclear program after this new security system is established and that it means to achieve a higher rate of economic growth than China and Vietnam to guide the country into economic prosperity,” said Lee Jong-seok, former Minister of Unification.

This was Lee’s analysis of the reasons that North Korea has been so proactive about the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-US summit during his keynote address at a forum called “Assessment of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Assessment and Outlook for the North Korea-US Summit, which was held at the National Assembly on May 3. The forum was organized by the Institute for Democracy, a policy think tank for the Democratic Party.

Lee also talked about his experience with negotiating with the US: “Our negotiations with the US about the North Korean nuclear issue between 2003 and 2005 were complicated by the fact that US officials said that the nuclear issue was important but that the human rights issue was important, too, and that resolving the two had to be given equal value.”

“The North Koreans probably believe that the mood and sentiments in the US, which are focusing solely on the nuclear issue [unlike the past], and the political will of US President Donald Trump ultimately came about because the North Koreans clearly possess nuclear weapons as well as ICBMs [intercontinental ballistic missiles] that can reach the American mainland,” Lee said.

“Kim Jong-un has the ability to guarantee the regime’s stability in a fight against the US, but that puts him under so much pressure that he’s barely able to keep his people fed. He’s saying that he’s willing to give that up for a new model of government and that he wants the Americans to work with him,” Lee said.

In regard to the model of government that North Korea is seeking, Lee said, “North Korea has never said this before, but as far as I can tell they appear to want the establishment of a new system of regime security.”

“This new security system would be created by establishing diplomatic relations with the US, entering into a peace treaty, normalizing inter-Korean relations and restoring North Korea’s traditional relations with China while providing the North Korean people with a prosperous economy [inside that framework],” Lee explained.

“Kim Jong-un’s bold decision is probably backed by certainty and a vision for a high degree of economic growth. He appears to think that this will require a new security system.”

“The first article of the Panmunjeom Declaration specifies the economic incentives that will be provided to North Korea to support its strategic decision to make the transition from an impoverished country with nuclear weapons to an emerging developing economy without them,” said Cho Sung-ryul, senior researcher for the Institute for National Security Strategy, during a presentation titled “Assessment of the Panmunjeom Declaration and Challenges for the North Korea-US Summit.”