UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Iran Press TV

South Korea replaces point man on North after Hanoi summit collapse

Iran Press TV

Fri Mar 8, 2019 07:50AM

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has replaced his point man on North Korea with his longtime confident in an apparent effort to further improve ties with Pyongyang.

Moon replaced his Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon on Friday with his confident Kim Yeon-chul, who heads the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification.

"He's the right man who can actively embody the president's vision for a new Korean peninsula, a new peace and cooperation community, by carrying out the Unification Ministry's main policy tasks without a hitch and implementing inter-Korean agreements in a speedy manner," said the president's spokesman.

The replacement was part of Moon's largest cabinet reshuffle for the second half of his term.

It was announced days after President Trump walked away from his second summit with the North's leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, claiming that Kim had insisted on the removal of all sanctions.

The North disputed Trump's remarks, saying it was ready to "permanently and completely dismantle all the nuclear production facilities" if the US agreed to scrap sanctions "that hamper the civilian economy and the livelihood of our people."

Moon, who has long favored engagement with the North, said the collapse of the summit has made his government's role "more important" to help the two sides reach "a complete settlement by any means."

He has also said that it was Seoul's "utmost priority" to prevent nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang from derailing.

Last year, Trump met the North's leader in their first ever summit in Singapore, during which the two sides agreed to work toward denuclearization.

Subsequent diplomacy between the two sides, however, made little progress, mainly because the US refused to lift its harsh sanctions.

Pyongyang has taken several steps toward the goal by suspending missile and nuclear testing, demolishing at least one nuclear test site, and agreeing to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility.

Washington, however, has insisted that sanctions on the North must remain in place until it completely and irreversibly dismantles its nuclear program.

On Thursday, US State Department issued yet another warning on North Korea's missile program, saying any missile launch at a site which was allegedly being rebuilt by Pyongyang, would be a violation of Kim's commitments to Trump.

The department said it was seeking clarification after satellite images purportedly showed North Korea completing reconstruction of a missile site that previously produced the first intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of reaching the US.

Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said his boss was open to another summit with Kim, but this time he wanted to discuss a "big deal" involving complete disarmament in return for comprehensive sanctions relief that would give North Korea a "bright future."

A senior North Korean official, however, said last week that "Chairman Kim may have lost the will" to sit with Trump to negotiate the country's nuclear and missile programs.

On Thursday, North Korea strongly denounced ongoing joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, saying the drills posed an "all-out challenge" to efforts towards peace on the Korean peninsula.



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list