Unification minister's trip to Washington postponed

Unification Minister Lee In-young (Yonhap)

Unification Minister Lee In-young’s planned trip to the US has been put off, his office said Tuesday, as Pyongyang remains largely unresponsive to overtures from Seoul and Washington.

Lee had sought to visit Washington this month to meet with officials, think tank leaders and experts to discuss a coordinated approach toward North Korea in hopes of a breakthrough in stalled inter-Korean ties. The US recently completed a policy review on the recalcitrant regime and is now pursuing an approach that is “calibrated and practical” yet open to diplomacy.

“The ministry has been preparing for Lee’s visit to Washington at the end of June, but decided to temporarily put the plan on hold,” a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The official added that while the US has completed its review on the North and has urged the reclusive regime to engage in dialogue and cooperation on many occasions, including the recent Korea-US summit, it appears the North’s stance and policy direction aren’t fully established.

“Given that there are various uncertainties surrounding inter-Korean relations, we will decide on the right timing for the trip by looking into the situation,” the official said.

Since the Biden administration took office early this year, Washington has reached out to North Korea, but Pyongyang has kept mum.

At the summit between Moon and Biden in Washington last month, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy and dialogue with the North toward the goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Biden has also appointed Sung Kim, a veteran Korean American diplomat who led the US delegation at the six-party talks with the North, as a special envoy for the North, signaling Washington’s readiness to resume talks with Pyongyang.

But Pyongyang has largely kept quiet on the summit and the allies’ calls for diplomacy or the resumption of talks. Observers say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has his hands full with domestic issues concerning the pandemic and the economy, amid the country’s strictest quarantine measures since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, world leaders have continued to emphasize the nuclear issue concerning the North. At the recent G-7 meeting, the participating nations issued a joint statement urging the complete denuclearization of North Korea, calling on Pyongyang to resume dialogue with the international community while demanding the regime respect human rights.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)

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