North seeks complete denuclearisation: S Korean President
South Korean President says Pyongyang seeking 'complete denuclearisation' with no conditions
North Korea has expressed its commitment to "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula and is not seeking conditions, South Korean President Moon Jae In said yesterday, as the US vowed to maintain "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang.
Mr Moon said big-picture agreements about denuclearisation, establishing a peace regime and normalisation of relations between the two Koreas and the US should not be difficult to reach through the North's upcoming summits with the South and with the US.
"I don't think denuclearisation has different meanings for South and North Korea. The North is expressing a will for complete denuclearisation," Mr Moon said during a lunch with chief executives of Korean media companies.
"They have not attached any conditions that the US cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. All they are talking about is the end of hostile policies against North Korea, followed by a guarantee of security."
US HOSTILITY
North Korea has defended its nuclear and missile programmes, which it pursues in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, as a necessary deterrent against perceived US hostility.
The US stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korea has said over the years that it could consider giving up its nuclear arsenal if the US removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.
South Korea announced on Wednesday that it is considering how to change a decades-old armistice with North Korea into a peace agreement as it prepares for the North-South summit this month.
North Korea and the South are technically still at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Mr Moon said he saw the possibility of a peace agreement, or even international aid for the North's economy, if it denuclearises.
But he also said the inter-Korean summit had "a lot of constraints", in that the two Koreas could not make progress separate from the North Korea-US summit, and could not reach an agreement that transcends international sanctions.
"So first, the South-North Korean summit must make a good beginning, and the dialogue between the two Koreas likely must continue after we see the results of the North Korea-United States summit," Mr Moon said.
US CIA Director Mike Pompeo visited North Korea last week and met leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he formed a "good relationship", US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ahead of a summit planned for May or June.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday he hoped the summit would be successful, but warned he would call it off if he did not think it would produce results. - REUTERS
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