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Blue House National Security Council Director Chung Eui-yong returns to South Korea via Incheon International Airport on July 22 after his visit to the US

With North Korea and the US’s denuclearization negotiations at a deadlock, South Korean President Moon Jae-in is once again moving to serve as a mediator. His actions appear aimed at speeding up the negotiations and building momentum while seeking a point of compromise between the two sides.

On July 20, Moon dispatched Blue House National Security Council Director Chung Eui-yong to Washington, D.C. This came a little over two months after Chung’s previous visit to the American capital on May 4. On July 21, Chung met his American counterpart, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton, and shared information about the current state of the North Korea-US denuclearization negotiations and plans for the future.

“We had very useful deliberations about a number of ways to move the North Korea-US denuclearization talks forward as fast as possible so as to be successful and become a virtuous cycle. We reconfirmed that establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization is the joint goal of South Korea and the US,” Chung told reporters after returning to South Korea on July 22.

“Chung’s visit to the US was an attempt to find a way to break through the deadlock between North Korea and the US and make progress on the issue of denuclearization. President Moon is once again actively seeking to take on a mediating role,” Blue House officials said.

The day before Chung met Bolton, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha visited New York for a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, where they affirmed that the sanctions on the North should be maintained until it denuclearizes. On July 19, a Blue House committee charged with implementing the Panmunjeom Declaration held its third meeting, during which it reviewed the various areas in which South and North Korea are seeking to carry out follow-up measures.

Moon’s review of the status of matters related to inter-Korean talks and his strengthening of communication with the US appears to reflect his desire to find a breakthrough for North Korea and the US’s denuclearization negotiations, which are currently at a standstill. The Blue House is reportedly very frustrated at the lack of progress in those negotiations. This mood was echoed in Moon’s remarks during his Singapore Lecture on July 12 that “if the leaders [of North Korea and the US] do not keep the promises they made themselves, they will be judged sternly by the international community.”

The Blue House is likely to focus on confidence building between North Korea and the US by quickly arranging a declaration ending the Korean War even while continuing to work with the US on keeping sanctions in place until denuclearization. Declaring the end of the war is a political step that can be taken before reaching a peace agreement, as well as something that North Korea has strongly requested and that US President Donald Trump has also taken a positive stance about.

“Chung could have told the US about what North Korea strongly wants or is dissatisfied about,” a Blue House senior official said.

During his visit to Singapore on July 12, Moon said that “the goal of our government is declaring the end of the Korean War this year, which is the 65th anniversary of the ceasefire agreement, as we agreed during the Panmunjeom Declaration.”

“Chung could have talked to Bolton about the question of declaring the end of the Korean War,” said a senior official at the Blue House. What concerns the Blue House, however, is that if the US demands the North’s complete denuclearization as the precondition for formally ending the war, Seoul will have little way to persuade it otherwise.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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