Meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said...
North Korea can denuclearize... if Seoul and Washington take "phased and synchronized"
measures.
And two weeks later, a North Korean diplomat echoed that statement.
Oh Jung-hee sheds light on what this 'multi-staged, simultaneous denuclearization' could mean.
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could be solved through (quote)"phased and synchronized"
measures -- says a North Korean diplomat.
According to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency, this official accompanied North Korean foreign
minister Ri Yong-ho to Azerbaijan for the Non-Aligned Movement summit last week... but
asked not to be named.
The expression "phased and synchronized" denuclearization... echoes what North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
is reported to have said... at his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing
last month.
According to China's foreign ministry,... Kim said...
North Korea is always committed to denuclearization,... and that issue can be solved if Seoul and
Washington take (quote)"periodical and synchronous" measures.
Such comments by both Kim and Pyongyang's foreign affairs authorities hint... that recent
visits by North Korean officials to the Non-Aligned Summit, Russia, and the European Union...
may be to send out a similar message and garner support for such an approach.
But Pyongyang's claim of 'multi-staged, simultaneous' denuclearization stands opposite to what Washington
has in mind.
Pyongyang wants to break down the process into several different stages... and earn
rewards for each stage it goes through.
For example, as North Korea halts nuclear and missile tests, production of nuclear materials
and missile deployment,... and accepts inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency,...
then it could want rewards... like economic and humanitarian support, a downsizing of
Seoul-Washington joint military drills, a normalizing of diplomatic relations,... and
a guarantee of the regime's security.
But, Washington wants the deal to be sealed all at once.
U.S. President Trump views that giving rewards for actions is a mistake of the past.
"The U.S. is thinking of completing the dialogue all at once, getting a definite answer, and
setting the deadline for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.
There could be stages here, but those -- a nuclear freeze, status report, inspection,
and dismantlement -- will be for implementing the promise."
While the U.S. and North Korea have conflicting views on how to achieve denuclearization,...
there is hope, as there has been under-the-table contact between the two on holding their first
ever summit in two months.
It's also crucial for Seoul to draw out a roadmap... that puts together the two approaches...
and satisfies both Pyongyang and Washington.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
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