Jeong Yeon-du, the government's chief representative on North Korea's nuclear issue and head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Office of Strategy and Intelligence, said after visiting the United States that Washington reaffirmed its open stance on talks with North Korea without preconditions.
Jeong, the Deputy Minister, said at a meeting with the Korean press corps held at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., on the 26th local time, "During this visit to the United States, we held wide-ranging consultations with key State Department figures including Undersecretary for Political Affairs Alyssa Hooker, Vice Minister for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno, and Deputy Minister for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSomvrais."
Visiting the United States on the 24th for the first time since being appointed in Nov. last year, Jeong, the Deputy Minister, met with them as well as Korea Peninsula experts at major U.S. think tanks and members of Congress.
Jeong, the Deputy Minister, added, "Specifically, we exchanged views on recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, including the results of North Korea's 9th Party Congress, and, based on the joint briefing materials from the South Korea-U.S. summit, we also discussed a wide range of pending issues related to the peninsula."
Jeong, the Deputy Minister, also said, "We explained to the U.S. side that, since North Korea's messages were within our expected range, we will continue to support, as a pacemaker, the early realization of U.S.-North Korea dialogue, and we will also continue efforts to ease tensions and build trust between the two Koreas with a long-term perspective."
However, regarding Washington's position that it is "open to talks with North Korea without preconditions," a senior government official said, when asked whether contact between the United States and North Korea is underway, "There is no new news of working-level contact between the United States and North Korea."
Speaking about the mood at the U.S. State Department, the official added, "Rather than there being something specific, I clearly got the impression that, under the basic stance of being open to dialogue with North Korea, they would coordinate closely with South Korea no matter what situation arises," and "the United States is maintaining the stance of being 'open to dialogue,' but it does not seem to be prepared yet to the level of deciding 'what to do' for that."
Jeong, the Deputy Minister, reported that, as a result of meetings with U.S. officials during this trip, "South Korea and the United States agreed to continue close coordination while communicating frequently at all levels going forward."
In meetings with think tank and congressional figures, Jeong, the Deputy Minister, said, "While explaining our North Korea policy, including our step-by-step denuclearization plan, we also listened to how the broader U.S. policy community views the North Korea issue and denuclearization policy."
Meanwhile, a government official said regarding the standoff between U.S. and Chinese military aircraft during a U.S. Forces Korea air drill over the Yellow Sea, and the discord between Seoul and Washington over whether the U.S. Forces Korea commander should apologize, "U.S. government officials did not raise the issue or express concern," adding, "However, there were some who noted that when issues arise within the alliance, they have been resolved well in the spirit of the alliance. It was a discussion about overall alliance matters."
The official also said they did not get the sense from U.S. officials that there is a perception that North Korea should be recognized as a de facto nuclear-armed state and treated or dealt with differently, adding, "I did not get the impression that they would handle North Korea by changing even the principle of denuclearization."
A government official, asked whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's remark that he would "permanently exclude" South Korea from the category of "brethren" falls within the "expected range" mentioned by Jeong, the Deputy Minister, said, "I did not think to that extent."
The official also said, regarding the interchangeable use of the concepts of "North Korea's denuclearization" and "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," "We understand and use them as the same concept."
Since the early 1990s withdrawal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula, South Korea has consistently remained in a "denuclearized" state; strictly speaking, "North Korea's denuclearization" is closer to the essence of the issue, and the joint fact sheet from the South Korea-U.S. summit released in Nov. last year also specified the phrase "complete denuclearization of North Korea."
However, during past nuclear negotiations, North Korea wanted to use the phrase "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," even raising the issue of rotational deployment or deployment of U.S. strategic assets capable of carrying nuclear weapons around the peninsula, and the United States and South Korea accepted that phrasing in agreements to maintain the momentum of talks.
A government official also said of the agreement under the Singapore joint statement by President Trump and Chairperson Kim Jong-un in 2018, "Among those in the second Trump administration, I sensed that there are people who still consider the Singapore agreement important and give it significance."
According to the joint statement, the outcome of the first U.S.-North Korea summit held in Singapore, President Trump and Commissioner Kim agreed on "establishing new U.S.-North Korea relations," "efforts to build a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," and "efforts toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."