National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac speaks in a press briefing in New York on Tuesday. - Photo: Yonhap
NEW YORK: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's chief security adviser said Tuesday (Sept 23) that an early agreement on the South Korea-US trade deal would be preferable, with the ideal timing being during the upcoming APEC summit.
“We’re keeping the summit in mind, and if we find common ground before then, we can reach an agreement at that time,” national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a press briefing in New York on Tuesday.
He expressed hope that trade negotiations with the US were accelerating, following an agreement to cut US tariffs on most South Korean goods from 25 percent to 15 percent in exchange for US$350 billion of investment from South Korea in US projects. The talks are expected to gain momentum ahead of a meeting between President Lee and US President Donald Trump during Trump’s visit to South Korea in late October, he said.
Wi said Seoul had been communicating through various channels on the need for a currency swap arrangement with Washington, expressing hope the two sides can reach common ground. During his trip to New York, Lee met with a delegation of US lawmakers to outline South Korea’s investment pledge and the challenges in ongoing trade talks, seeking congressional support for an agreement. He did not meet with former President Donald Trump at the UN and has no plans to do so during the remainder of his New York trip, the aide said.
Wi also said that Lee's "END" initiative on dialogue with North Korea — standing for exchange, normalization and denuclearization — will follow a mutually reinforcing approach, with progress in one area expected to support advances in the others.
Lee's new peace initiative, floated during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, will be pursued independently and separately, and none of the three is prioritized over the others.
"We intend to pursue a structure in which the inter-Korean exchanges, normalization of inter-Korean relations and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula mutually stimulate each other, through an inter-Korean dialogue and a US-North Korea dialogue."
Exchanges, for example, could nurture a normalization process, and ultimately drive the process of denuclearization, Wi said. He added that the previously announced three-stage approach to denuclearization of having North Korea stop, reduce and remove nuclear weapons would be part of the initiative.
This suggested that South Korea would not stick to the phased approach to ties with North Korea and denuclearization.
The initiative marks a departure from the former conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which tied a full resumption of inter-Korean exchanges to North Korea’s complete denuclearization.
"The inter-Korean relationship is now marked by extreme confrontation and tension," Wi said. "We focus on easing tensions and building trust, and we start doing so through exchanges."
Wi, however, denied speculation that any of the South's reconciliatory moves toward the North meant that South Korea was willing to embrace a two-state system.
The economic cooperation between the two Koreas has stalled since 2016, when the Kaesong Industrial Complex operation ground to a halt following the North's nuclear test. Other types of economic exchange, such as a tour program to North Korea's Mount Kumgang, have also halted.
Last year, North Korea changed its constitution to call South Korea a "hostile state" and cut off rail and road connections to the South, having blown up a liaison office in 2020.
Wi said that each goal of the new North Korea initiative largely echoes the previous joint statements involving North Korea, including one between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in 2018.
The former ambassador to Russia, however, added that he had no knowledge about specific progress on engagement between Trump and Kim.
As for the speculation of Trump holding a surprise meeting with Kim while in South Korea to attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Wi said such a thought is merely "imaginary."
The security adviser spent most of the briefing going over Lee’s speech at the UN General Assembly, in which the president outlined a gradual expansion of inter-Korean economic exchanges and cooperation as a pathway to “sustainable” peace on the Korean Peninsula. The president emphasized the need for “a realistic approach,” noting that North Korea’s denuclearization could not be achieved in the short term.
"The fact that exchanges and cooperation are a shortcut to peace is a timeless lesson demonstrated by the history of fraught inter-Korean relations," Lee said in his speech.
"By gradually expanding inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation, we will pave the way for sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula."
Lee, who was elected president in June as the candidate of the center-left Democratic Party of Korea, used the speech to propose his "END" initiative and ask the international community to support peace on the Korean Peninsula.
He underscored that South Korea would respect the North’s system, would not seek unification by absorption, and had no intention of engaging in hostile acts.
After his address at the UN, Lee held talks with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and highlighted the UN's role in helping the Korean Peninsula achieve peace.
According to the presidential office, Lee called on the United Nations to support his efforts to transition from conflicts and confrontations on the Korean Peninsula to dialogue and cooperation. Lee also stressed that peace and security on the Korean Peninsula was linked to the peace and security of the international community as a whole.
He also met Czech President Petr Pavel, and acknowledged the Czech Republic's support for activities of South Korean businesses there, expressing hopes for the two countries to cooperate further in the field of not only nuclear energy but also semiconductors, electric cars and the defense industry.
Pavel also expressed his willingness to visit South Korea at a convenient time, which Lee welcomed, according to the presidential office.
South Korea has assumed the UN Security Council’s rotating presidency for September, and Lee is set to preside over a high-level UNSC open debate Wednesday.
It will be the first time a South Korean president has done so during a UN General Assembly. The debate will focus on the theme "Artificial Intelligence and International Peace and Security."
Ahead of the session, Lee is also scheduled to meet state leaders of Italy, France and Poland. - The Korea Herald/ANN
