South Korea, China urge concessions on both sides to end US-North Korea standoff

China South Korea US-North Korea US President Donald Trump North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Chinese President Xi Jinping Pyongyang Washington KCNA
10 Jan, 2019 4:54 pm

SEOUL/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China and South Korea called for concessions from the United States as well as North Korea, ahead of a possible second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump, suggesting a US pressure campaign aimed at the North’s denuclearisation may be slipping.


“I think North Korea knows that they clearly have to denuclearise for the easing of international sanctions, and the US also understands that there needs to be corresponding action to expedite the North’s denuclearisation,” Moon told reporters at the presidential Blue House.


China, the North’s lone major ally, and US-backed South Korea have been key players in two years of “maximum pressure” led by the United States, but both countries are signalling an increased willingness to ease sanctions and improve ties with North Korea.

Pyongyang and Washington have been struggling to find a breakthrough despite a pledge by Kim at a landmark summit with Trump in Singapore in June to work towards denuclearisation “of the Korean peninsula”.

North Korea, which has been developing nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, has demanded Washington lift sanctions and declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Those demands were in response to Pyongyang’s initial, unilateral steps towards denuclearisation that included dismantling its only known nuclear testing site and a key missile engine facility.


For its part, the United States has instead increased sanctions and said it will not lift the measures until North Korea takes more steps towards giving up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

In prepared remarks for his annual New year speech, Moon made no mention of any steps North Korea needs to take, instead focussing on the economic benefits of making peace with North Korea.

But when pressed by journalists at a briefing afterward, Moon said North Korea should take more steps, such as abandoning its missiles and dismantling weapons production lines and other nuclear complexes, to secure US concessions such as sanctions relief.

He said reducing US military commitments, such as a withdrawal of troops or strategic assets from the region, would be an unlikely option for Washington. North Korea used the reference to denuclearisation “of the Korean peninsula” in the past to include the removal of the US nuclear umbrella in the region.




Kim renewed his resolve to meet Trump again during his meeting with Xi in Beijing this week. Moon said Kim’s latest trip to Beijing signalled that a second Trump summit was imminent.


Second Trump-Kim summit ‘imminent’: South Korea




Kim told Xi about the difficulties and concerns in improving North Korea-US relations and denuclearisation negotiations, KCNA said. Xi agreed that North Korea’s reasonable concerns must be addressed properly, it said.







“The crux is how to let North Korea denuclearise and to give it security guarantees. On this, the United States and North Korea don’t have trust, so China has to act as a bridge,” Wang said.

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