South Korea to Salvage Faltering Nuclear Negotiations Between North Korea and US through a Fourth Summit

South Korea, through a fourth summit with North Korea will help salvage the faltering nuclear negotiations with the United States. The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un accused Seoul of acting like an 'overstepping mediator'. He demanded South Korea to diverge from Washington and support its stand strongly.

The South Korean President Moon Jae-in had brokered nuclear talks between North Korea and the US following tensions created by the former's nuclear and missile tests and bared the exchange of war threats between the leaders of the two countries. However, there are fears that the positive developments of 2018 could be undone because of the mismatched demands between Washington and Pyongyang over sanctions relief and disarmament. Experts point out that inter-Korean engagement without some level of sanctions relief would be very difficult as Washington will not move from its stance unless Kim commits to verifiably relinquishing his nuclear facilities. Furthermore, Kim has shown no signs that he is willing to give away an arsenal he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival.

"Whenever North Korea is ready, we hope that the South and North could sit down together and hold concrete and practical discussions on ways to achieve progress that goes beyond what was accomplished in the two summits between North Korea and the US," Moon said. Last week, he met with Trump and agreed on the importance of nuclear talks with North Korea and improve bilateral relations.