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Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong speaks with CNN host Fareed Zakaria at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. (provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong said on Wednesday that the time has come to consider relaxing sanctions on North Korea to incentivize positive steps.

“The US and ROK could explore many avenues to pull North Korea out of isolation and actively restart this denuclearization process,” Chung said during a conversation with CNN host Fareed Zakaria. The conversation was organized by the Council on Foreign Relations and was held on Wednesday while Chung was in New York for the UN General Assembly.

“We shouldn’t be timid on offering North Koreans incentives,” Chung added.

In material released by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Thursday, Chung noted that South Korean President Moon Jae-in had called for international cooperation on making an end-of-war declaration on the Korean Peninsula during his keynote address at the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly. An end-of-war declaration, Chung said, would represent progress toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the beginning of comprehensive peace.

Chung also underscored the need to explore active incentives for North Korea to return to dialogue, including humanitarian assistance, confidence-building measures, and consideration of sanctions relief, provided that North Korea takes steps toward denuclearization.

More specifically, Chung said, “we will need to start on less sensitive areas, like humanitarian assistance […] and then we can move on to […] confidence-building measures, like the announcement of the end-of-the-war declaration.”

“And then, we should also consider presenting windows to relax sanctions, depending on their actions,” the foreign minister said, arguing that sanctions could be reinstated if North Korea violates its agreements.

While Chung said that “Americans are not quite ready for […] easing sanctions,” he added that “it is about time for us to consider that, because North Koreans […] have maintained this moratorium [on nuclear weapon and missile testing] for four years.”

“I don’t mean that we should reward [the North Koreans] for what they have not been doing, but as incentives, we hope we can find some ways to ease sanctions,” Chung added.

“The position of our government is that sanctions relief can be considered as a corresponding measure for steps toward denuclearization. We think there can be a wide-ranging discussion of this if North Korea returns to dialogue,” a MOFA official explained.

Notably, Chung rejected an attempt during the conversation on Wednesday to define South Korea, the US, Japan, and Australia as being a “non-Chinese bloc,” which Chung said represented “the mentality of [the] Cold War.”

Yonhap News quoted Chung as saying, “We hope to see more stable relations between China and the United States.” He went on to stipulate that the South Korea-US alliance is the “main pillar of our foreign and security policy” and that China is Korea’s most important economic partner.

When Zakaria suggested that China has grown “more assertive” in recent years, Chung said, “I think it is natural because China is becoming stronger, economically more powerful. So it’s not China 20 years ago.”

Chung went on to question whether “assertive” was the right expression to use. “They want to have their voices heard by other members of the international community, and […] we should try to listen to what they have to say to us,” he said.

When Zakaria asked if South Korea’s experience is different from that of Australia, where government officials claim that “China has become much more assertive,” Chung said that Korea is “well aware” of other countries’ concerns.

MOFA spokesperson Choi Young-sam offered the following explanation of Chung’s remarks during the daily briefing on Thursday.

“Chung wasn’t saying that China’s assertive attitude is natural. He was only saying that China’s desire for its voice to be heard in line with its national power, including its diplomatic and economic influence, appears natural given general changes in states’ international status.”

“Chung’s remarks should be taken as a general argument for accurately assessing and understanding the China of today, rather than the China of decades ago, and for clearly understanding and judging what China wants to say, given the need for a precise policy toward China,” a MOFA official added.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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