북미 평양협상, 무엇을 주고 받았나 - 우정엽 박사 대담
Joining us today to give his thoughts on these latest developments, we have with us Dr. Woo Jung-yeop, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute here in Korea.
1 - There was much movement over the weekend. Let's start with the announcement of the location for the North Korea-U.S. summit; Trump confirmed on Twitter that it will be taking place in Hanoi. Speculation went back and forth over whether it would be Hanoi or Da Nang as reports suggested that the U.S. and North Korea had different preferences. Is there one side this location works out better for, or do you think it does not matter that much?
2 - During the weekend as well, the U.S. Special Representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, returned from three days of working-level talks in Pyeongyang. He said they were productive but that there was still some hard work left to do. What do we know about the content of the talks and what impression did you get from Biegun's remarks?
3 - Before Biegun returned to Washington, he stopped off in Seoul to brief South Korean officials on what happened in Pyeongyang, and among some of the things he said, he is reported to have described the talks as not a negotiation, and more a meeting to put forward their positions. Does that suggest that they have not made headway yet towards an agreement?
4 - There has been speculation that the U.S. is willing to make compromises and agree on some sort of "small deal" towards North Korea's denuclearization. However, South Korea's Blue House spokesperson, when asked directly about this, said it is not the position of the administration, and that they are on the same page as Washington on this. What should we make of that comment?
5 - As mentioned in the previous report, many U.S. politicians have expressed their doubts about what Trump can get out of the summit with Kim Jong-un. What does Trump need to bring home to convince his critics?
6 - So far North Korean state media has yet to mention the upcoming summit. (We talked a little about this last time but...) how long do you think North Korean state media can wait before it reports on it? Why do you think they are avoiding it?
7 - The Blue House revealed that Pyeongyang and Washington will be holding another round of working-level talks soon. What needs to be sorted out?
8 - The Blue House has also said that President Moon will be holding a phone call with President Trump soon to discuss everything that is going on with North Korea. South Korea's foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha is also set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo soon as well. So a lot of interaction between Seoul and Washington, but what is South Korea's role in the North Korea-U.S. summit?
