South Korea moves to ease Chinese jitters over US-North Korea talks

South Korean officials will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, as part of an effort to bring jittery regional powers on board with President Donald Trump's stunning decision to accept a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

کد خبر: ۷۸۲۰۱۸

تاریخ: ۲۱ اسفند ۱۳۹۶ - ۰۹:۳۰

Seoul's lead envoy, National Security Advisor Chung Eui-Yong, will meet Xi in Beijing, as a parallel delegation heads to Tokyo to brief Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the attempts to open talks with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile program.

China, which appears to have been left on the sidelines as South Korea has orchestrated the rapprochement with the North, attempted to take partial credit for the developments at the weekend.

An op-ed in the government mouthpiece, People's Daily, said that the diplomatic breakthrough followed China's "dual-suspension" proposal, in which North Korea would freeze its missile-testing program in return for the suspension of US-South Korean military drills.

But despite China's claim, North Korea has yet to offer any concrete steps to whittle back its nuclear program, while Kim told a South Korean delegation to Pyongyang last week that he understands the need for Seoul and Washington to continue its joint drills.

In a call with Trump Friday, Xi appeared to welcome the prospect of talks.

"The two leaders welcomed the prospect of dialogue between the United States and North Korea, and committed to maintain pressure and sanctions until North Korea takes tangible steps toward complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization," an official White House readout said.

Amid the flurry of diplomatic activity, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told the South Korean Yonhap News Agency that she will be traveling to Washington this week to meet with Tillerson, who was traveling in Africa last week when the apparent breakthrough was announced.

Tough sell

The South Korean delegations may have a tough job to sell the developments to Bejing and Tokyo, who are both wary about the talks -- although for different reasons.

The Chinese side would be "happy but conflicted" about the developments, according to Stanley Roth, a former US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific. "Of course, anything that defuses the situation, makes military action less likely, is very positive for them. If it can lead to a negotiating process, even better," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

"At the same time they've got to be very concerned about the possibilities of a trade war -- not just the steps taken but the steps that might be taken, and that could influence their willingness to be helpful."

Roth added that "there's probably a bit of resentment that North Korea (could meet) with the US President before meeting with the Chinese president," a development that he described as "absolutely extraordinary."

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly stressed the need to maintain pressure on North Korea to commit to ridding the peninsula of nuclear weapons.

Abe, briefing reporters after speaking to Trump and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week, said that the US and Japan had agreed to "keep putting maximum pressure until North Korea takes concrete actions toward denuclearization."

'No preconditions'

White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Sunday that there were no preconditions set on a potential summit between the two nations.

"The potential meeting has been agreed to, there are no additional conditions being stipulated, Shah said on ABC's "This Week." "But again, they cannot engage in missile testing, they cannot engage in nuclear testing and they cannot object to US-South Korean joint military exercises."

Since the putative US-North Korea summit was announced last week, no further steps have been taken with Pyongyang to arrange it, the South Korean Unification Ministry Monday.

Spokesman Baik Tae-hyn said that, from the South Korean side, a preparatory committee was being formed. "In the meantime, the Unification Ministry will play an appropriate (and) central role in carrying out this process."

North Korea has yet to respond officially to Trump's acceptance of the invitation to talks, either through diplomatic channels or via state media. "I think North Korea needs time to organize their position and is being careful and cautious in approaching regarding the summit," Baik said.

The week of meetings comes as South Korea's presidential Blue House office said that Trump wanted to meet Kim earlier than the proposed timeframe of May, but US national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Chung urged for a later date.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday he will not publicly discuss issues related to North Korea, because "it's that delicate, when you get into a position like this. The potential for misunderstanding remains very high or goes higher."