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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump hold a working lunch as part of their summit at the White House on Apr. 11. (Kim Jung-hyo

During their summit in Washington, DC, on Apr. 11, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump confirmed the possibility of holding a third North Korea-US summit and agreed to renew momentum for North Korea-US dialogue, which is currently stalled, through an inter-Korean summit. In effect, the three-legged diplomatic relay between the leaders of South Korea, North Korea, and the US that began last year with the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace has resumed through the following sequence of summits – South Korea-US, South-North and North Korea-US – after the North Korea-US summit in Hanoi concluded without an agreement.

The plan that Moon unveiled in summit with Trump is to swiftly organize an inter-Korean summit. Blue House National Security Office Director Chung Eui-yong said that Trump had asked Moon to quickly pass along whatever information he learns about North Korea’s position. On Feb. 28, immediately after the Hanoi summit ended inconclusively, Trump called Moon and asked him to let him know the results of any dialogue he has with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Before the South Korea-US summit, there had been some predictions that Kim and Moon would hold a meeting with a focused agenda, but North Korea was too preoccupied with internal deliberations, including its assessment of the Hanoi summit, for that to happen.

The apparent blessing of the US gives Moon fresh impetus for organizing an inter-Korean summit, and he’s expected to send a special envoy to the North to share the results of his summit with Trump and to propose holding an inter-Korean summit as a stepping stone toward dialogue between North Korea and the US.

“President Moon said that when he gets back home he’ll have us get in touch with North Korea and start pushing for an early summit,” a high-ranking official at the Blue House told reporters on Friday. If an inter-Korean summit of any sort can be pulled off in the short term, it’s likely to help lead toward the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue.

The big question, however, is whether Kim will be eager to agree to Moon’s proposed summit if it’s aimed solely at promoting North Korea-US dialogue while the US remains unwilling to lift sanctions on the North prior to denuclearization. Since Kim sent a clear message during the recent 4th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea that he would not bow to US pressure or sanctions, some think he’s gearing up for a protracted dispute.

What is encouraging in this context is that Trump’s confirmation of his willingness to hold a third summit with Kim gives Moon something to sweeten the pot in an inter-Korean summit. Considering that the Hanoi summit ended without a deal, it can be assumed that the two sides will lay the groundwork to enable a deal to be reached in a third summit, if it should be held. When reporters asked if Trump was thinking of a third summit with Kim, he said it was a possibility. In a statement released after the summit with Moon, the White House said that Trump is keeping the door to dialogue open.

But the two leaders don’t appear to have reached a perfect agreement on the timing and methodology of the third North Korea-US summit. While Moon expressed his hope that the summit will be held soon, Trump said that this is “step by step” and “if it goes fast, it’s not going to be the proper deal.” This hints at a divide in the strategic time frame envisioned by Moon, who is worried that momentum may be lost if North Korea-US dialogue doesn’t resume quickly, and Trump, who intends to pressure the North by slow-walking the process. To bridge this divide, Moon will have to convince North Korea to commit to a step that goes beyond shutting down its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

There are also indications that the two leaders didn’t manage to narrow their differences over the methodology of promoting denuclearization negotiations. When asked about Moon’s so-called “good enough” deal, which contrasts with Trump’s “big deal,” Trump said, “we’re talking about the big deal. The big deal is we have to get rid of the nuclear weapons.” Trump also said that sanctions on North Korea need to be maintained and that it’s not the right time for resuming operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Chung, the director of the Blue House National Security Office, would only say that Moon and Trump’s summit “was an opportunity for trading very frank opinions about concrete and realistic methods.”

The Blue House said that the summit was an opportunity to “eliminate various kinds of uncertainty that had appeared after the Hanoi summit and renew the momentum for resuming dialogue.” Officials also said that “South Korea and the US share the view that improving inter-Korean relations helps maintain the momentum for the denuclearization talks.”

“It achieved its primary goal of clearing up the claims that some were raising about discord between South Korea and the US,” said Cho Sung-ryul, former senior research fellow for the Institute for National Security Strategy.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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