There's a puzzling 'missing link' in South Korea's story about Kim Jong Un wanting to denuclearize
- South Korea says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made a shocking concession by agreeing to meet with the US to talk about getting rid of his nuclear weapons.
- President Donald Trump responded with cautious optimism, but there's a "missing link" that the US could be missing out on.
- South Korea has motivations to give the US the most benevolent-sounding version of events to promote talks between the US and North Korea, but the truth may be more dark than anyone has admitted yet.
South Korean diplomats emerged from a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with shocking news - that Kim appeared to back down amid international pressure, and offered up talks about denuclearization with the US.
While President Donald Trump met the development with cautious optimism, if it's true, it would represent a huge concession from Pyongyang that could put it on a path to peace and reconciliation with the world.
But there's a major "missing link" causing this analysis to skew premature, according to Yun Sun, a North Korea expert at the Stimson Center.
South Korea's special envoy will now head to the US to debrief Washington on the talks and share with the White House secret messages North Korea asked them to transmit, but Yun finds the circumstances suspicious.
"South Korea has an innate interest to provide the most benevolent interpretation of what North Korea said," said Yun, who pointed out that the only coverage of the denuclearization talks so far has come from South Korea.
South Korea's President Moon Jae In campaigned on a more engagement-heavy strategy, while his opposition favored a harder, more militaristic approach to North Korea. To Moon's dismay, North Korea began an aggressive nuclear and missile testing schedule after his election, blocking most opportunity for engagement with Pyongyang.
South Korea's desire to see the US talk to North Koreans became apparent during the Winter Olympics, when Yun said diplomats "tried very hard" to make talks happen, and Seoul's diplomats themselves made concessions and let certain North Koreans skirt sanctions to facilitate its inclusion in the games.
Additionally, a small tweak to North Korea's language could make a big impact in talks. South Korean officials said Kim agreed to submit to talks with US under the precondition of denuclearization, a considerable concession.
But South Korean officials also stated that Kim cited denuclearization as one of his father's dying wishes. However, it was Kim that wrote the possession of nuclear weapons into North Korea's constitution, meaning he either disobeyed his father's dying wish, fabricated the wish, or is playing at some other, more nuanced game with denuclearization.
Also, North Korea may come out and say it agreed only to denuclearize if the US denuclearizes, or if the whole world denuclearizes, or some other more complicated, less achievable version of what the two sides agreed on.
According to Yun, the US should wait to see how North Korea discusses the talks in its own internal media to avoid being sold on a sanitized version of the talks by South Korea.
"If North Korea comes out and corroborates, watch the language it uses and what it really means in terms of North Korea's position," said Yun who cited a "possibility that South Korea was providing an overly benevolent interpretation of events."