Moon talks to Trump about North Korea’s security guarantee

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will have a summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The upcoming South Korea-U.S. summit takes place in three months since President Trump visited Seoul to have a U.S.-North Korea meeting at Panmunjom in June.

President Moon plans to provide his U.S. counterpart with South Korea’s proposal on the North’s security guarantee. It has been reported that Moon came up with the idea of mitigating conventional military threat on the Korean Peninsula by removing landmines in the DMZ area. Previously, Pyongyang mentioned a security guarantee of its regime along with its new calculations provided to Washington. There is a greater chance that Washington and Pyongyang may resume talks due to President Trump’s recent remarks on a “new method” regarding denuclearization. Against this backdrop, Seoul intends to serve as a main stakeholder not only in lifting sanctions such as the resumption of tour programs at Mt. Kumgang and operations at Kaesong Industrial Complex but also in ensuring a security guarantee of the North Korean regime. Prior to his meeting with President Trump, President Moon had talks with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to discuss how to cooperate with the United Nations on providing security guarantee to North Korea.

Accompanying President Moon in New York, South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha said that things are developing in a favorable direction to enable the resumption of U.S.-North Korea negotiations, adding that Washington’s stance is that it will stay open-minded during negotiations regarding security guarantee and lifting of sanctions.


weappon@donga.com