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South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a luncheon at the Blue House with a group of senior advisors for the inter-Korean summit on Sept. 13. (Blue House photo pool)

“What North Korea needs to move forward with now is giving up not only its future nuclear weapons, but also the nuclear weapons, materials, facilities and programs that it currently possesses,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sept. 13, five days before the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. This is the first time that Moon has specifically mentioned the dismantlement of North Korea’s current nuclear weapons.

After making this comment during a luncheon at the Blue House on Thursday with a group of senior advisors for the inter-Korean summit, including Korea Peace Forum Honorary Chairman Lim Dong-won, Moon said, “I don’t have a pessimistic outlook on the situation. Though the [North Korea-US] working-level talks have been somewhat sluggish, the leaders of the two sides have repeatedly confirmed their mutual trust.”

“North Korea is promising to work on dismantling not only its future nuclear weapons but its current nuclear weapons, while the US is also promising to take steps to end its hostile relations with North Korea and to provide security assurance for its regime. However, the two sides are stalled on the question of who should take action first. I think that’s something we’re fully capable of reaching a compromise on,” Moon added.

Moon said that the agenda for the upcoming summit will cover improving and developing inter-Korean relations and promoting and mediating North Korea-US dialogue aimed at denuclearization. “The most important thing in the current phase is eliminating the threat of war and the possibility of any military tension or clash between South and North Korea,” Moon also emphasized, hinting that this summit will result in a concrete agreement aimed at easing military tension.

During the meeting, Moon Chung-in, special presidential advisor for unification, foreign affairs, and national security, proposed that if South and North Korea set up a task force to discuss denuclearization, they could come up with a groundbreaking solution.

“Denuclearization and regime security could be properly achieved in the framework of a peace regime in Northeast Asia that has the support and participation of the US, China and Japan ,” suggested Kim Yeong-hui, a senior reporter for the Joongang Ilbo.

“President Moon, you should be like soccer player Son Heung-min. It’s important to pass the ball to President Trump and let him score a goal,” said Park Jie-won, lawmaker with the Party for Democracy and Peace.

Lee Jong-seok, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, spoke about the importance of setting up an inter-Korean joint research group for arms control, while Han Wan-sang, emeritus professor at Seoul National University, and Lim Dong-won emphasized the importance of an Asian railroad community and inter-Korean press exchange, said Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum.

In related news, the Blue House announced that South and North Korea will be holding working level talks at Panmunjom on Sept. 14 to prepare for the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. The talks will cover the areas of protocol, security, communication and press coverage. The South Korean team of negotiators is expected to be led by Kim Sang-gyun, second deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.

By Kim Bo-hyeop, staff reporter

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