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South Korean President Moon Jae-in holds a virtual summit with Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, at the Blue House on June 30.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in emphasized the need for a third North Korea-US summit prior to the US presidential election this November. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impending election, however, it’s unclear whether such a summit will actually be held.

Moon made the remarks in a virtual summit with EU Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that was hosted by the Blue House on June 30. A senior official at the Blue House said on July 1 that Moon had expressed his “firm determination not to allow the regression of the progress in inter-Korean relations that has been achieved with such difficulty” and said that “South Korea hopes there will be one more push for dialogue between North Korea and the US before the presidential election [in November].”

When asked whether South Korean officials had exchanged opinions with North Korea or the US prior to Moon’s remarks, the Blue House official said, “The Blue House and the White House National Security Offices have been communicating closely since [North Korea’s] demolition of the Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong [on June 16]. The president’s opinions have already been communicated to the US, and the Americans share his feelings and are currently working on that.”

Moon Chung-in, Moon Jae-in’s special advisor for unification, foreign affairs, and national security, raised some interesting possibilities on Wednesday. “The Americans seem to think that, if they can reach a breakthrough through improving relations with North Korea before the election [in November], it will work to their advantage in dealing with China. There seem to be some encouraging developments [in the US],” he said.

Moon Jae-in’s expression of the need for a third North Korea-US summit is thought to reflect his determination to speed up efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which have been delayed as Moon simultaneously tried to handle inter-Korean relations and North Korea-US relations. “A meeting between North Korea and the US is the critical first step in dealing with the issues of the North Korean nuclear program and economic sanctions on the North. We don’t see that as being separate from inter-Korean dialogue,” the Blue House official said.

But numerous obstacles stand in the way of a third North Korea-US summit actually being held. Only four months remain before the US presidential election, and the novel coronavirus is currently spreading in the US. US Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said on June 29 that he didn’t think a North Korea-US meeting could be held before the presidential election. It’s impossible to say whether North Korea would agree to such a summit, given its traumatic memory of returning home empty-handed from last year’s summit.

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

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