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South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi pose for a photograph after meeting in Palo Alto, California, on Jan. 14. (provided by MOFA)

Speculation is abounding whether South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet during the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which will be held in the Germany city on Feb. 14-16.

Officials at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that Kang is considering the option of attending the MSC. Along with Pompeo, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will reportedly be in attendance.

If both Kang and Pompeo end up going, they’d probably set up a foreign ministers’ meeting, the first such meeting since they sat down together in San Francisco on Jan. 14. At that point, the two top diplomats would likely discuss such matters as their countries’ ongoing negotiations about their defense cost-sharing agreement and inter-Korean cooperation projects, including individual tourism to North Korea, which the South Korean government has been aggressively pursuing since the beginning of the year. Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi might also attend the MSC, potentially giving Kang the chance to chat with Pompeo and Motegi in a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings.

Since Seoul has already been seeking to convene the South Korea-US Working Group in early February to discuss matters related to sanctions on inter-Korean cooperation projects, the outcome of the Working Group’s consultation would likely set the agenda of Kang and Pompeo’s potential discussion. Sources say the two contingents to the Working Group — led by Lee Dong-ryeol, director of the Peace Diplomacy Planning Team at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong — are looking into a meeting in Seoul.

Amid reports indicating that North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong will also be in Munich for the MSC, another question is whether Pompeo or Kang will arrange a meeting with Kim. But since North Korea has ignored the US’ repeated requests for resuming their negotiations and since Kim is in charge of European affairs, not the nuclear issue, the conference doesn’t seem likely to bring about a change of direction in the denuclearization talks.

By Park Min-hee, staff reporter

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