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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The South Korean President on Monday urged the new Biden administration to build on the achievements and learn from the failures of President Donald Trump’s diplomatic engagement with North Korea.
An easygoing liberal and the son of northern war refugees, Moon Jae-in had lobbied to help set up Trump’s three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but their diplomacy was deadlocked due to disagreements over easing crippling US-led sanctions for northern disarmament. .
Biden accused Trump of chasing the spectacle of summits rather than meaningful restrictions on the North’s nuclear capabilities. North Korea has already staged weapons tests and other provocations to test new U.S. presidents, and Kim has vowed to bolster its nuclear weapons program in recent political speeches that were seen as aimed at putting pressure on the new Biden administration.
The South Korean leader has desperately wanted to keep alive a positive atmosphere of dialogue in the face of Kim’s vows to further expand a nuclear and missile program that threatens the Asian allies of the United States and the American homeland.
And while Moon acknowledged that Biden is likely to try a different approach from Trump, he pointed out that Biden could still learn from Trump’s successes and failures in his dealings with North Korea.
At a mostly virtual press conference in Seoul, Moon asserted that Kim still has a “clear will” to denuclearize if Washington and Pyongyang can find mutually acceptable measures to reduce the nuclear threat and keep the North safe. Most pundits see Kim’s recent comments as further proof that he will maintain his weapons program to ensure the survival of his regime.
Asked about the North’s efforts to increase its ballistic ability to strike targets throughout South Korea, including US bases there, Moon said the South can sufficiently cope with these threats with its missile defense systems. and other military means.
“The start of the Biden administration offers a new opportunity to restart talks between North Korea and the United States and also between South Korea and North Korea”, which are stuck in the deadlock of nuclear negotiations , Moon said.
“North Korea’s efforts to expand its nuclear program and acquire more weapon systems are due to the fact that we have not yet succeeded in reaching an agreement on denuclearization and peacemaking. These are issues that could all be resolved through successful dialogue, ”he said.
At an eight-day North Korean Workers’ Party convention that ended last week, Kim described the United States as “his country’s main enemy”. He did not completely rule out the talks, but said the fate of bilateral relations would depend on whether or not Washington abandons its hostile policy towards Pyongyang.
The erosion of inter-Korean relations has been a major setback for Moon, who met Kim three times in 2018 while expressing his ambitions to restart inter-Korean economic engagement when possible, expressing optimism that international sanctions could terminate and allow such projects.
Moon said the South will continue to seek ways to improve relations with the North within the confines of sanctions, such as continued humanitarian assistance and joint anti-virus efforts against COVID-19.
But Kim, at the ruling party convention, has previously described such offers as “unnecessary” while criticizing South Korea for its own defense capacity building efforts and continuing annual military exercises with the United States. , which were reduced under Trump to create space for diplomacy.
Experts say Pyongyang is pressuring Seoul to separate from Washington by halting their joint exercises, defying sanctions and relaunching inter-Korean economic cooperation.
At Trump’s first summit with Kim in June 2018, they pledged to improve bilateral relations and made vague, ambitious wishes for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula without describing when and how that would happen.
But negotiations collapsed after their second meeting in February 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for the dismantling of an aging nuclear reactor, which would have represented a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities. .
Moon said Trump and Kim’s deal at their first meeting was still valid and that the Biden administration should learn from the failures of their second meeting,
“The declaration in Singapore under the Trump administration was a very important declaration for denuclearization and the building of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said.
“Of course, it is very deplorable that the (content of the) declaration remains theoretical due to the failure to justify it by concrete agreements,” he said. “But if we go back to the Singapore declaration and restart talks on concrete measures, it is possible that diplomacy between North Korea and the United States and between South Korea and North Korea will pick up again. .
Moon said he hoped to meet with Biden as soon as possible and that South Korean officials would actively communicate with their American counterparts to ensure that the North Korean issue remains a priority for the new U.S. government, which inherits it. a terrible epidemic of coronavirus and internal political unrest.
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