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| A woman displays a banner with a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula, in Seoul, March 19. AP-Yonhap |
Cheong Wa Dae denies sending invitation to Trump By Kim Yoo-chul
Washington appears to want to continue "denuclearization talks" with North Korea with U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirming his good relationship with its leader Kim Jong-un despite calls from aides to impose additional sanctions on the North.
"It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea. I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!," Trump wrote on Twitter, Saturday (KST).
His remarks didn't reverse any existing economic pressure but rather referred to new potential sanctions that had not been made public, and as of last week, would not be going forward. The Treasury Department earlier said it was applying new sanctions against two unnamed Chinese shipping companies among others.
Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday that "the true intention of the tweet" was unknown, however, a presidential official unofficially welcomed it in terms of understanding Trump's willingness to "make a deal" with Kim.
The U.S. President's remarks came after Washington sent mixed signals to North Korea over whether it would tighten or ease sanctions on the regime. At the Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim, the U.S. had demanded the North present specifics on how and when it would dismantle its nuclear program, verifiably and fully ― which ultimately led to its failure.
'Ministries lose ground on NK policy' 2019-03-24 16:59 | Foreign Affairs
After this, Pyongyang strongly hinted at scrapping the nuclear talks and asked Seoul to distance itself from Washington and to move forward with joint inter-Korean business projects, put on hold by the U.S. and United Nations sanctions. North Korea also withdrew its officials from the North-South liaison office in Gaeseong.
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| \US National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks to the media as he walks to the White House in Washington, D.C., March, 19. EPA-Yonhap |
Trump's comments did raise some hope among Moon's local and international supporters who viewed them as a signal that the U.S. has no "imminent plans" to further punish the North.
"Trump's canceling out of sanctions might have been a bid to get North Korea to change its thinking," Harry Kazianis, director of Korean studies at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest, said.
"North Korea is attempting to break the Washington-Seoul alliance. It remains to be seen whether Trump's comments mean a possible policy shift toward North Korea; however, the remarks mean, at least, that he still prefers to willingly take the risks with the top-down approach in the North Korean issue. Trump is waiting for nuclear talks developments with the help of Moon," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Political analysts here said President Moon's leadership in handling the North Korea nuclear issue is being called into question as he finds himself "sandwiched" between Washington and Pyongyang. They added that this is because no substantial progress has been seen from his self-proclaimed "mediator" and "facilitator" role in the nuclear disarmament process since the start.
"With Washington still showing commitment to talks, President Moon has to have to tell Washington that some form of concession is required to avoid further backtracking in negotiations, while he has to convince Kim of the importance of continuing the talks and of addressing key prerequisites. Moon has to be really quick," said Hong Min, the director of the North Korean research division at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Meanwhile, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said there have been no talks about holding a summit between the leaders of the United States and South Korea after Trump's state visit to Japan, scheduled May 26.
"National Security Office Deputy Director Kim Hyun-chong has no plan to visit Washington, this week, for consultations with his U.S. counterpart on issues relating to North Korea," he told reporters.
National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon met with his U.S. counterpart in Washington, last week, while President Moon and his top security adviser Chung Eui-yong held a meeting with the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats at the presidential office.
