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| U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun attends as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Korea's President Moon Jae-in in New York, Sept. 23. Reuters-Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun arrived in Seoul, Sunday afternoon, amid escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula for "close allied coordination on North Korea," according to the U.S. State Department.
Cheong Wa Dae announced Sunday that President Moon Jae-in will be meeting with the nominee for the U.S. deputy secretary today. It is the first time for Moon to meet with Biegun since their last meeting on Sept. 11, 2018, ahead of an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.
Moon has remained silent about North Korea's couple of "important tests" recently. It remains to be seen whether the South Korean leader will have a message toward North Korea, which has threatened to take a "new path" if there is no progress in the denuclearization talks with the U.S. by the end of the year.
During previous visits to Cheong Wa Dae, Biegun has met with key members of the presidential National Security Office (NSO), including chief Chung Eui-yong and second deputy director Kim Hyun-chong, to discuss urgent matters regarding North Korea and other security-related issues such as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).
The President's rare meeting with Biegun shows the urgency with which the President perceives the current situation on the peninsula, with only two weeks left until the Pyongyang-imposed "deadline" for talks. Concerns are rising among experts within and outside Korea that North Korea may test an ICBM capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Moon talked recently on the phone with Trump, but it is uncertain what kind of role the South Korean leader can fulfill at this point to facilitate the talks between the U.S. and North Korea. Brad Glosserman, a senior adviser of the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, said that there is "very little" Moon can do.
"President Moon can only reinforce Trump's inclination; there is little indication that he ― or anyone else for that matter ― can get the president to change his mind. If North Korea believes that it has leverage as a result of a belief that Trump wants a deal, then he cannot sway Pyongyang from testing that proposition," he said. "If Trump doesn't want to talk, the only thing Moon can do to change his mind would be to try to link payments on the troop presence to continued negotiations. That is a dangerously transactional approach to the alliance and I don't think even Moon would want to test that proposition and risk setting a precedent."
Biegun's visit comes as North Korea announced another "successful test" on its Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on Dec. 13 and claimed that the launch will further bolster up the "reliable strategic nuclear deterrent of the DPRK," mentioning North Korea by its official name. In a statement, the Korean People's Army (KPA) issued a strong warning to the "U.S. and other hostile forces."
"The priceless data, experience and new technologies gained in the recent tests of defense science research will be fully applied to the development of another strategic weapon of the DPRK for definitely and reliably restraining and overpowering the nuclear threat of the U.S.," Pak Jong-chon, chief of the General Staff of the KPA, said in the statement released by its state media KCNA. "Genuine peace can be safeguarded and our development and future be guaranteed only when the balance of power is completely ensured. We have stored up tremendous power."
The "balance of power" is seen to reflect Pyongyang's primary motive in the talks with the U.S. "Kim wants the U.S. to recognize the North as a nuclear power, sooner or later," said Bruce Cummings, former chair of the history department at the University of Chicago.
