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SEOUL, South Korea – As President Trump plans a second summit with Kim Jong-un, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea on Tuesday called on the two leaders to make "bold decisions" to advance North denuclearization -coréenne.
The White House revealed on Monday that Trump had received a letter from Kim, the North Korean leader, requesting a second meeting to follow up on his summit in June. It was Mr. Kim's fourth letter to Mr. Trump this year, as the two leaders seemed to cultivate unthinkable personal connections last year, when they exchanged personal insults and nuclear threats.
The White House said it was already planning to plan a second summit.
"It was a very warm and very positive letter," Trump's press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a meeting at the White House. "The primary purpose of the letter was to request and plan another meeting with the President, to which we are open and we are already coordinating."
The news was an encouraging signal for Mr Moon, who called on Mr Trump and Mr Kim to resurrect the blocked dialogue between their governments. Moon and many South Koreans hope Trump and Kim will use their personal chemistry to end the nuclear weapons program in the North and bring lasting peace to the Korean peninsula.
"If we want to reach a higher level and dismantle nuclear assets owned by North Korea, it requires big ideas and bold decisions from the leaders of the North and the United States," said Moon. . meeting in Seoul on Tuesday.
"North Korea must proceed with its nuclear dismantling, and the United States must take a corresponding step to create the environment to make it possible," he added.
When Kim met with Trump in June in Singapore, he pledged to work towards "full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula" in exchange for new relations and security assurances from Washington. But the commitment lacked precision, and discussions between the two sides have since stalled on how to carry out the deal.
When Mr. Moon's special envoys met with Mr. Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last week, he said he was ready to to denuclearize before the end of Mr. Trump's term at the beginning of 2021. He nevertheless reaffirmed that his country would only do so in stages to obtain reciprocal "simultaneous" measures from Washington.
North Korea insists that it has done enough so far: this year, it suspended its nuclear and missile tests, dismantled its test sites for nuclear engines and rockets and returned the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War. He hoped that the United States would do the same by making a joint declaration to end the Korean War, during which hostilities were interrupted by an armistice.
But Washington insisted that North Korea first take greater steps towards denuclearization, including a comprehensive inventory of its nuclear weapons and fissile materials, before being rewarded.
With his remarks on Tuesday, Moon seemed to propose that the North and the United States engage in a compromise exchange to help break the stalemate. But such a suggestion has not been well received by Washington supporters, including Trump's national security adviser, John R. Bolton, who is deeply skeptical of the North's willingness to denuclearize.
"President Trump can not get the North Koreans through the door he's holding open," Bolton said on Monday. "It is they who must take the necessary steps to denuclearize, and that is what we are waiting for."
Moon said Tuesday he was invited by Trump and Kim to mediate to help revive their stalled diplomacy. Moon is expected to travel to Pyongyang on Sept. 18 for his third summit with Kim.
Mr. Moon was encouraged by North Korea's decision not to display its intercontinental ballistic missiles during its military parade last weekend. Such an exhibition could have weakened efforts to revive the dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.
The two Koreas intended to improve the dialogue and planned to hold military talks on Thursday and also asked Friday for the opening of a liaison office in the city of Kaesong, North Korea, said Tuesday. South Korean officials.
