South Korea calls for pausing North Korea’s nuclear program with China’s help in negotiations
South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung has suggested suspending Pyongyang’s nuclear activities in return for compensation.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he has asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to play a mediating role as his government seeks to improve relations with North Korea and resume talks on its nuclear program.
Speaking in Shanghai on Wednesday at the end of a four-day state visit to China, Lee proposed a halt to Pyongyang’s nuclear program in exchange for “compensation or some kind of reciprocal measures.”
“Stopping at the current level—no further production of nuclear weapons, no transfer of nuclear materials abroad, and no further development of ICBMs—would already be a significant achievement,” Lee told reporters after meeting with top Chinese officials. This was his second meeting with Xi in two months.
“If that stage is reached, then in the medium term we can gradually move toward denuclearization,” Lee said. “In the long term, we should not abandon the goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”
Lee said, “All our channels are completely blocked.” “We hope that China can act as a mediator for peace.”
Lee said that Xi had urged Seoul to show “patience” when dealing with Pyongyang, given the severely strained relations between the two Koreas. “And they are right,” Lee said. “For quite some time, we have been engaging in military actions that North Korea would have perceived as threatening.”
South Korea’s recently impeached former President Yoon Suk-yeol is accused of attempting to provoke a military attack from North Korea to consolidate his power.
On Monday, Pyongyang confirmed that it had conducted test flights of hypersonic missiles, and leader Kim Jong Un said that “strengthening the nuclear deterrent” was necessary in light of the “recent geopolitical crisis”—a clear reference to Washington’s attacks on Venezuela and the alleged plot to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
