South Korea backs US-North Korea talks while safeguarding security role
Seoul supports renewed US-North Korea dialogue but says talks must advance denuclearisation without weakening allied readiness or sidelining South Korea.
Seoul, South Korea. South Korea supports US President Donald Trump’s efforts to resume dialogue with North Korea, while seeking to protect its security posture and ensure it is not sidelined, national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Friday.
Seoul believes any renewed talks should deliver substantive progress on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme without undermining South Korea’s security readiness.
Need for coordination
Wi said South Korea and the United States must coordinate closely to ensure any resumption of US-North Korea dialogue advances the nuclear issue alongside efforts to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
He said policy coordination and communication between Seoul and Washington were more important than ever.
Military drills and engagement
Wi cited Trump’s order earlier this month to substantially scale back major joint military drills between the allies, saying it signalled the US president’s willingness to engage with North Korea.
Trump said he had shortened the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills partly because of Seoul’s refusal to offer help in the Iran war, adding that the exercises sent the wrong message to North Korea. Trump has been seeking a new summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump and Kim met three times in 2018 and 2019.
Upcoming exercises
South Korea, Japan and the United States will conduct joint military drills from September 9 to 11 to test readiness against North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons threats, South Korea said on Friday.
Wi said Seoul was also seeking to deepen cooperation with Washington on a range of issues that have at times caused friction between the allies.
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