Moon may send special envoy to North Korea next month

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, right, speaks, as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son-hui looks on during a press conference in Hanoi, March 1, following the failed U.S.-North Korea summit. AFP-Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

President Moon Jae-in may send a special envoy to Pyongyang, possibly National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Suh Hoon, as early as next month, sources said Tuesday.

One source, asking not to be named, said this is one option Moon and his aides are considering to find a breakthrough in stalled denuclearization talks between North Korea and the United States.

The special envoy would also discuss the possibility of another summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he said.

Seoul is currently looking to end the impasse in nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang after the failure of the Hanoi summit last month. It is also trying to keep the momentum of nuclear negotiations alive with Moon taking an active role in facilitating future Trump-Kim meetings.

"The envoy will also discuss advancing inter-Korean ties as well as detailed steps toward dismantling the North's nuclear program such reporting undeclared nuclear sites," another source said.

US intelligence chief in Seoul to discuss North Korea: source 2019-03-20 09:54  |  North Korea 58% of South Koreans hopeful about US-North Korea talks: survey 2019-03-19 17:40  |  Politics US sticks to dialogue with NK 2019-03-19 16:51  |  Politics US, North Korea trying to get 'sequencing' right in nuclear talks: Pompeo 2019-03-19 09:24  |  North Korea The sources didn't specify who the envoy would be, though lawmakers of the country's ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said Suh could be the "right person" given the role he played in realizing three previous Moon-Kim summits.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers on the sidelines of a National Assembly session on the foreign ministry that sending a special envoy was "one of the options" to advance future Trump-Kim talks. Kang added the leaders of the two Koreas must utilize "mutual trust" to break the impasse.

"To my understanding, Suh met with senior U.S. officials last week in Washington, D.C. Seoul has to send Suh to North Korea as early as possible to get the diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang back on track," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, recommending Panmunjeom as the venue for a fourth summit between Moon and Kim.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in the garden of the Metropole Hotel during the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 28. Reuters-Yonhap

The failure of the Hanoi summit was mostly due to stark differences and a lack of common understanding on what denuclearization means between North Korea and the United States when Trump pressed Kim to abandon all of his regime's nuclear weapons.

North Korea and the United States were said to have agreed "in principle" to declare an end to the Korean War and to establish liaison offices in Pyongyang and Washington. But their "Hanoi Declaration" didn't materialize as at the last minute the United States refused to accept the North's request for comprehensive sanctions relief in exchange for its complete demolition of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

The South Korean government was taken aback as it had hoped Trump and Kim would reach a deal, using President Moon's policy of rapprochement which saw him meet the North Korean leader three times. It wants concessions to be made to encourage the North to permanently discard its military-first strategy in favor of peaceful growth and development.

Recent satellite imagery showed activity at the Tongchang-ri missile test site. But experts said given Kim's repeated commitment to denuclearization and his desire for economic development, it's unlikely North Korea will resume missile testing.

Lisa Collins, a fellow with the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there could be some relief in the form of the reopening of frozen inter-Korean economic projects such as a resumption of operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

"The fourth inter-Korean summit, if it happens, will be a good opportunity to formulate realistic plans and a timetable and take bold steps," said Hong Min, the director of the North Korean research division at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

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