JUDY WOODRUFF: After hours of meeting in the demilitarized zone that separates the Koreas
today, North Korea agreed to send athletes to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea.
Senior officials from both countries also agreed to hold further talks to reduce months
of military tensions.
Today's talks may represent the first concrete step away from confrontation.
It was the first time officials of the rival countries sat for high-level talks in more
than two years.
RI SON GWON, North Korean Chief Negotiator (through translator): The relations between
the two Koreas are frozen up more than this winter's weather.
Despite the cold, Korean people express strong zeal for the improvement of inter-Korean ties.
CHO MYONG-GYON, South Korean Unification Minister (through translator): There is a saying in
our country that a start means it is half-done.
It is hoped that we hold this dialogue with such strong will and perseverance.
JUDY WOODRUFF: After meeting behind closed doors for 11 hours, the two sides agreed to
hold military talks to ease border tensions.
The North also said it is restoring a military hot line with the South, and it pledged to
send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.
People on the streets in both Pyongyang and Seoul said they welcomed the talks and the
outcome.
WOMAN (through translator): Every Korean really wants relations between the North and South
to improve.
It's urgent.
MAN: I think this is a chance for Korea, the only divided country in the world, to relieve
tensions.
I hope the talks will bring peace and compromise between the two Koreas.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But The Wall Street Journal's Andrew Jeong, speaking via Skype from Seoul,
says one key topic wasn't addressed.
ANDREW JEONG, The Wall Street Journal: The North appeared not willing to discuss the
nuclear weapons issue, which is I guess at the heart of everyone's minds when looking
at North Korea.
And there was no specific agreement on when and if the two Koreas would discuss the issue.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The top North Korean delegate did give this assurance to the South.
RI SON GWON (through translator): Regarding the nuclear issues, our strategic weapons,
including atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and intercontinental ballistic missiles, are only
aimed at the United States, not our brethren.
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Trump and North Korea's Kim have regularly traded threats and insults,
but, on Saturday, Mr. Trump suggested he would be open to his own talks with the North Korean
leader.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Sure.
I always believe in talking.
Absolutely, I would do that.
No problem with that at all.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The State Department called today's talks between the two Koreas a good
first step.
That came up again at today's White House briefing with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, White House Press Secretary: The North Korean participation
is an opportunity for the regime to see the value of ending its international isolation
by denuclearizing.
We hope that we can continue to move forward on that front.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The U.N. secretary-general also praised the turn of events.
And so how big a breakthrough was today's meeting?
Kathleen Stephens spent 35 years in the Foreign Service.
She was U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 2008 to 2011.
She later served under President Obama as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy
and public affairs.
She's now a fellow at Stanford University.
Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
So, what do you make of today's meeting and what apparently was agreed to?
KATHLEEN STEPHENS, Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea: Well, I do think it was a
big first step, to quote my former employer.
I think this is an important development today and an all-too-rare positive development in
a couple of ways.
First, I think South Korea -- and I think you saw that reflected in the comments from
South Korean citizens -- South Korea has to be very pleased and relieved that the Winter
Olympics, which they're hosting one month from today is the opening ceremony, now looks
set to potentially be hosted with less tension and less threat of disruption or spoiling
from North Korea and with North Korean participation.
This is the first thing that South Korea's new president, Moon Jae-in, has been able
to, if you like, deliver in terms of his desire and his promise to try to reengage with North
Korea.
But it is indeed a modest step, but an important one.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, a positive development.
We don't know what it will mean in the long term, but that in the short term you're saying
a positive development.
What about, though, the fact, Ambassador Stephens, that the big sticking point between the United
States and North Korea, their nuclear program, their missile program, didn't come up?
KATHLEEN STEPHENS: In a sense, I don't think that is surprising.
North Korea has long taken the position that the issue of its nuclear missile program is
one to be dealt with, with the United States.
The Republic of Korea, as the U.S. ally, has made clear it's a concern to them, too.
And I do note that the South Korean delegate made that point today.
But this notion that the weapons are about the threat from the United States is a longstanding
North Korean point, and I'm not surprised that they made it again.
I do not see any evidence that they are ready to come to the table to talk about denuclearization.
And that is indeed the huge looming challenge that still remains before us.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, the North Koreans are sticking to their guns, so to speak.
The U.S. is saying it's sticking to its position.
You don't see any movement, any glimmer, positive glimmer there at all?
KATHLEEN STEPHENS: Well, no, I think there is a very positive and much-needed step of
at least cracking open the door of some dialogue.
And it is appropriate that it begin between the two Koreas.
This is the Korean Peninsula.
These are the people who have suffered the most from the division and the continued state
of tensions and indeed virtual war over the decades.
But it needs to be the first step towards something, towards creating the atmosphere
where I hope that, by spring, perhaps some kind of dialogue is possible.
Now, that said, I can't imagine that North Korea's lack of demands today is going to
continue forever.
Once the Olympics are over, I think we're in for a period perhaps some reduced tensions,
of some confidence-building, which is a positive thing.
But, by the spring, there will be some important questions there about future military exercises,
about the sanctions, and indeed about any future testing of nuclear devices or missiles.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And on the other hand, though, you have this week reporting from The Wall
Street Journal that there is discussion inside the Trump administration about the possibility
of targeted strikes on North Korea by the United States, perhaps at one of their military
sites, missile sites.
What would that mean if that happened?
KATHLEEN STEPHENS: Well, it is indeed a very risky strategy, in my view.
Successive American administrations have looked at the notion at some kind of limited strike,
limited military action, and have judged on every occasion that the stakes are simply
too high of a full-blown and disastrous war on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
I think that would remain the calculation of this American administration.
But that kind of talk is indeed unnerving in South Korea and indeed in North Korea,
and could well figure into Kim Jong-un's own calculations that perhaps this is the time,
when he's also under increasing pressure from sanctions, to try to put out a bit of an olive
branch, to indeed put it out to his -- as he puts it, his South Korean brethren, and
to see if he can appeal, if you like, to the very natural desire for reconciliation, but
-- eventually, and for peace, but in the meantime for some reduction of tensions between the
two Koreas.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it was sobering, sobering story, certainly got our attention, along
with these talks.
Former Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, we thank you.
KATHLEEN STEPHENS: Thank you.