Trump's leadership key in North Korea talks amid endgame standoff: FM
The resurrection of long-stalled nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea will hinge on US President Donald Trump's leadership, with an inevitable tug-of-war over the negotiations' ultimate goal, Seoul's top diplomat said Thursday.
'As for the current situation, I can say that we expect President Donald Trump's leadership to produce some progress,' South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said during his first news briefing with local media at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Seoul.
"We are closely coordinating with the US, consulting on preparations and related matters as to how dialogue between North Korea and the US is currently proceeding," Cho added, declining to share further details.
Asked whether substantive behind-the-scenes work was underway for dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington or if it was still only at the conceptual stage, Cho explained, 'If North Korea engages in dialogue with the US, it will likely demand that Washington recognize and accept its status as a nuclear-armed state.'
'However, for now, the US maintains that North Korea cannot possess nuclear weapons. Therefore, a push-and-pull between the two sides is inevitable.'
Speaking at the briefing on condition of anonymity, a high-ranking official further explained that Washington and Pyongyang would have to find a middle ground to restart nuclear negotiations.
'How will the US-North Korea dialogue proceed? Will we allow it to move toward nuclear arms control talks as North Korea wishes? Just as it would be impossible to conduct negotiations solely on the premise of complete denuclearization, it would also be impossible to recognize North Korea as a nuclear-weapon state and to hold arms control talks on that basis,' the unnamed official said.
'Therefore, the two sides will have to find common ground somewhere and begin negotiations from there.'
Nuclear talks have been effectively suspended since the abrupt breakdown of the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Trump in February 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Speaking at the briefing, Cho also underscored that President Lee Jae Myung's decision to make Japan the destination of his first solo overseas trip — ahead of a visit to the US — reflects his administration's 'pragmatic, reality-based' foreign policy.
Lee has notably broken from a longstanding practice; presidents in governments launched after the 1987 constitutional revision have typically chosen the United States for their first solo overseas trip. The sole exception was his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, who met then-US President Joe Biden in Seoul in May 2022, just 11 days after taking office.
'I understand that it is unusual for the president to visit Japan before visiting the US, and for the foreign minister to choose Japan as the first country to visit,' Cho said. 'But this was possible because the Lee Jae Myung administration pursues a pragmatic, reality-based approach.'
Lee is slated to visit Tokyo from Aug. 23-24 for his second in-person meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba before traveling to the US for his first summit with Trump on Aug. 25.
Cho himself also visited Tokyo first in late July as his first overseas trip before his talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
'It is because we thought it natural to first talk with Japan, whose position is in many ways similar to ours, before visiting the US,' Cho said.
The unnamed official explained that Cho's first trip to Tokyo was directed by President Lee. Against that backdrop, the president will visit Japan en route to the US.
'Such a sequence of visits is partially considered to address certain misconceptions or stigmas about the Lee Jae Myung administration,' the official said. He added that when the president visits Japan and then the US, "any prejudices about our government held in the US" that the Lee government is anti-Japan will be completely dispelled.
On Japan policy, Cho said Seoul would pursue a 'multi-track approach,' dismissing the long-held notion of a two-track approach that separates historical disputes stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from efforts to strengthen economic and security cooperation.
Cho underscored that the two-track approach is too simplistic for Seoul and Tokyo, which face a wide range of intertwined issues — from the shifting global order to shared challenges such as population decline and regional extinction.
'Putting certain issues on one track and others on another is not that simple. In the end, the tracks intersect and influence each other,' Cho said. 'So a multi-track approach might be more appropriate.'
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'Among the action plans for 43 items included (in the declaration), there are some that were relevant then and still are today, but there are also topics that are no longer timely. So, we need an updated version that addresses how to deal with those aspects.' Choi cites the 'Trump risk' as a clear example. 'It's not just because of the Trump administration, but because the international environment has become very unstable,' Choi said. 'For instance, if US involvement is reduced, how will regional security be maintained? We need to discuss how Korea and Japan can cooperate in that context.' Choi noted that a forward-looking approach should extend beyond economic and historical matters that were absent or only lightly addressed in the 1998 declaration. For instance, the 1998 declaration did not mention supply chains, AI or 5G, which are now central to both bilateral and global agendas. The joint declaration also left out specific historical topics, like the memorial service at the Sado gold mine, where Koreans were subjected to forced labor during World War II. Choi underscored that these issues should be included in a new framework, along with plans for handling future challenges. Lee concurred on the need to forge a new joint declaration in light of the shift in the balance between Seoul and Tokyo since then. 'At that time, in 1998, we were still — I wouldn't say far behind Japan, but in a somewhat lower position — and that perspective was reflected in much of the content,' Lee said. 'If that declaration was made in the context of Japan helping Korea, today the two countries are truly on an equal footing. In this context, we need a new version of the Korea-Japan Partnership Declaration that considers how the two countries, as equals, should cooperate.' Seizing the Ishiba opportunity Nam Ki-jeong, professor at the Institute for Japanese Studies at Seoul National University, views the current Ishiba administration in Tokyo as part of a rare alignment of circumstances that could offer the Lee administration a valuable opening. 'The Ishiba Cabinet has the potential to last a bit longer,' he said. 'While it's possible that it could end in a very short period, if we carefully devise and execute a strategy in coordination with the Ishiba Cabinet and those around it, we can advance Korea-Japan relations during the time that the Cabinet is in place.' Even if the political situation changes, Nam argues, the groundwork laid now could bring long-term benefits. If the ruling Liberal Democratic Party were to shift further to the right after the Ishiba Cabinet, for example, under figures like former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, the existing groundwork could help keep a more hardline government in check. On the other hand, if the LDP were to hold longer to the relatively liberal approach established by Ishiba, Seoul and Tokyo could have a better chance of improving their relationship beyond its current state. 'Right now, Korea-Japan relations enjoy an exceptionally favorable combination of administrations. When such a combination emerges, we must think on our side about how to make the most of the opportunity,' Nam said. 'Producing tangible results while Ishiba is in office is crucial at this moment.'
