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As North Korea's Deadline Approaches, South Pushes US for Progress

William Gallo

   SEOUL - A senior adviser to South Korea's president expressed a broad
   range of frustrations at U.S. policy toward North Korea, saying
   Washington has not adequately empowered Seoul to play a mediating role
   with Pyongyang.

   In an interview with VOA, Jeong Se-Hyun, who advises South Korean
   President Moon Jae-in on unification issues, also said the U.S. should
   offer more incentives to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear
   weapons.

   "Don't act as if you're offering a carrot while really you are using a
   stick," said Jeong. "North Korea must first be given carrots. Then if
   that doesn't work, you use a whip."

   Jeong's comments come just ahead of North Korea's end-of-year deadline
   for the U.S. to offer more concessions in nuclear talks. The North has
   threatened to resume long-range missile or nuclear tests -- steps which
   could upend two years of diplomacy.

   A return to major tensions on the Korean peninsula would be a political
   gut punch for President Moon, who has made outreach to North Korea a
   signature policy goal.

   Amid the breakdown in talks, North Korea has lashed out at its neighbor
   to the south, calling it a "meddlesome mediator" and refusing to
   participate in inter-Korean projects.

   "The problem is not that North Korea rejects the South Korean
   government's mediator role," Jeong said, "but that the U.S. must
   empower the South Korean government to promote it. Only then can the
   U.S. president achieve his political objectives."

   Jeong is a former South Korean unification minister and current
   executive vice chair of the National Unification Advisory Council-- a
   position equivalent to that of a Cabinet-level minister.

   His direct criticism of U.S. policy is a departure from the comments of
   most South Korean officials, who publicly insist the U.S.-South Korean
   approach to Pyongyang remains unified.

   However, South Korean officials have for months privately complained
   about the slow pace of the nuclear talks, saying the U.S. refusal to
   relax sanctions has prevented Seoul from implementing inter-Korean
   agreements reached in 2018.

   Policy failing?

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