South Korea yesterday said it would seek to mediate between the US and North Korea after Pyongyang threatened to pull out of an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore.
North Korea on Wednesday said it might not attend the summit if Washington continues to demand it unilaterally abandon its nuclear arsenal.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun yesterday reported that the US has demanded North Korea ship some nuclear warheads, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and other nuclear material overseas within six months.
The newspaper, citing several sources familiar with North Korean issues, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to have told Kim when they met this month that Pyongyang might be removed from a list of state sponsors of terrorism if it ships out those nuclear items.
The paper also reported that if Pyongyang agrees to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization at the planned Singapore summit, Washington was considering giving guarantees for Kim’s regime.
Doubts over the US-North Korea summit arose on Wednesday when Pyongyang denounced US-South Korean military exercises as a provocation and called off high-level talks with Seoul.
Trump has said it is unclear whether the summit would go ahead, but he would continue to insist on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said it would seek to bridge the gap between the Washington and Pyongyang.
A Blue House official said the South Korean government or President Moon Jae-in intends to more actively perform “the role of a mediator” between the South, the US and the North.
Trump is scheduled host Moon at a summit at the White House on Tuesday, and the two are expected to discuss the US-North Korea summit.
The Blue House intends to “sufficiently convey [to the US] what we’ve discerned about North Korea’s position and attitude ... and sufficiently convey the United States’ position to North Korea,” thereby helping to bridge the gap between their positions, the official said.
“Seeing the announced statements and responses from North Korea and the United States, we see the two parties as having a sincere and serious attitude [to stand in each other’s shoes],” the official said.
South Korea intends to continue discussions with the North to hold high-level talks that the North canceled on Wednesday, the Blue House said yesterday.
In related news, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday said the measures North Korea has taken to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula should be acknowledged, and that all other parties, especially the US, should cherish the opportunity for peace.
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