At Friday's highly-anticipated summit between Presidents Moon and Trump,... the hottest
topic will be North Korea,... a thorn in both countries' sides with its continual military
provocations and belligerent attitude.
Outlining the core issues... is our Kim Hysung.
****South Korean President Moon Jae-in left for Washington Wednesday afternoon for his
first summit talks with President Trump -- his first summit meeting, in fact, with any world
leader.*** With two nuclear tests and over 30 ballistic
missile tests in just the last 18 months, North Korea's weapons capabilities are becoming
more sophisticated by the day.
Those ever more frequent provocations, plus the death of American student Otto Warmbier,
who had been held prisoner in Pyongyang, mean North Korea will be the summit's number one
agenda.
- cbs Both Seoul and Washington agree on the goal
of completely dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons.
But there are differences on how to achieve it.
President Moon has called for a two-track approach:
First, a freeze on North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, then complete dismantlement,
with the possibility of engagement and dialogue along the way.
"President Moon wants to improve relations with North Korea while solving the North's
nuclear weapons threat through engagement and pressure.
Engagement could include providing humanitarian support for infants and young kids, or restarting
meetings of separated families."
This possibility of reengagement with North Korea using a softer approach with somewhat
ambiguous conditions...
has fueled concerns in Washington.
President Trump is pushing for a more hawkish strategy under the policy of so-called "Maximum
Pressure and Engagement."
- "The North Korean regime is causing tremendous
problems, and it is something that has to be dealt with and probably dealt with rapidly."
The Trump Administration has made North Korea its top security priority, imposing new sanctions
on the North Korean leadership and even warning that military action is on the table.
It dispatched two U.S. aircraft carriers to the Korean peninsula in April, a move unseen
in the last 20 years.
-skype "Trump is trying to increase pressure on North
Korea for its repeated violations, not only the UN resolutions but also U.S. law.
So in the U.S., there are a lot of questions, a lot of concerns about President Moon's policy.
Will he resurrect the unconditional engagement of Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun?
There are questions, given his advocacy for accelerating war-time OPCON, questions about
the THAAD deployment."
The conditions for Seoul to reengage with Pyongyang, the deployment of THAAD, America's
red line for a strike on Pyongyang -- these are some issues the two leaders need to iron
out.
"It's important to find areas of similarity and narrow down the differences.
At the same time, they need to reinforce the strong South Korea-U.S. alliance and build
mutual trust and rapport.
One concern, I'd say, is Trump's unpredictability.
If he raises some contentious points, or says something out of the blue at the press conference
or any number of other things -- remember how the President Trump-President Xi talks
were overshadowed by the sudden U.S. strike in Syria."
-skype "Both capitals are going to be working to
down play perceptions of differences over North Korea.
While there are still concerns, I think we are more confident that we will have successful
summit and fewer policy fireworks."
The first summit between President Moon and President Trump comes after a months-long
political vacuum in South Korea... filled by a new liberal administration,.... while
the U.S. is pursuing an America First policy.
The summit will give the two leaders a chance to reinforce their countries' strong alliance
and find common ground on their approach to North Korea for the next several years.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.