North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told his South Korean counterpart at their historic summit Friday that he'd be willing to give up his nuclear weapons if the United States commits to a formal end to the Korean War and pledges not to attack the North, South Korean officials say.
And Kim vowed during his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to shut down the North’s nuclear test site in May and invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States to watch, according to the officials.
Some experts and researchers have speculated that the most recent — and by far largest — blast in September had made the entire site unusable anyway. But Kim said there are two additional, larger tunnels that are “in very good condition.”
While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea ever will decide to fully relinquish its nuclear weapons, Kim’s comments are the North’s most specific acknowledgement yet that “denuclearization” would constitute surrendering its weapons, says The Associated Press.
There's skepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, says AP. The North long has vowed to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its 28,500 troops from South Korea and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.
And skeptics say Kim is trying to improve ties with South Korea to steer it away from the United States and escape sanctions that increasingly are hurting the North’s economy. Many conservatives in the South fear that the North’s goal remains to be accepted as a nuclear power in return for freezing its nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile programs, says The New York Times.
In initial small steps toward reconciliation, South Korea said on Monday it would remove loudspeakers that blared propaganda across the border, and North Korea said it would shift its clocks to align with its southern neighbor.
The talk of peace is likely to weaken the two levers that President Trump used to pressure Kim to come to the bargaining table, says a separate Times article. A resumption of regular diplomatic exchanges between the two Koreas inevitably will erode the economic sanctions against the North, while Trump will find it hard to threaten military action against a country that's extending an olive branch, according to analysts.
“This summit has put even greater expectations, greater hype and greater pressure on Trump,” says Victor Cha, a Korea scholar at Georgetown University who was considered by the Trump administration to be ambassador to Seoul. “He hyped this meeting with his tweets, and now the entire focus is going to be on his negotiating prowess.”