Flurry of high-level talks between US, S. Korea rekindle hope for dialogue with N. Korea

Talks between US and South Korean senior officials have continued since South Korean President Moon repeated his call for an end-of-war declaration at the UN General Assembly in September

Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, and Sung Kim, US special envoy for North Korea, speak at a joint press conference on Sept. 30 in Jakarta, Indonesia, following bilateral discussions between the top envoys on the North Korean nuclear issue. (provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Amid a series of high-level deliberations between South Korea and the US, attention is focusing on whether the two countries can find a way to resume dialogue with North Korea, perhaps by pushing for an official end to the Korean War. An end-of-war declaration is something that South Korean President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly proposed.

“I expect there will be full-fledged deliberations at the working level on several ways [to resume the Korean Peninsula peace process], including an end-of-war declaration,” said Noh Kyu-duk, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, while visiting Washington, DC, on Saturday, following a trip to Russia.

An end-of-war declaration, Noh said, “could create an opportunity for resuming important kinds of dialogue right now.”

He called it “a significant starting point for dialogue that could lead to complete denuclearization and the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Noh also said that Seoul intends to have a discussion with the US government about the implications that an end-of-war declaration would have for maintaining stability in Korean Peninsula affairs and continuing dialogue with North Korea.

Noh will be holding talks with Sung Kim, the US special representative for North Korea, on Monday in their capacity as the two countries’ top envoys for the North Korean nuclear issue. On Tuesday, Noh will meet with Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for bilateral talks about the North Korean nuclear issue, along with trilateral talks to be joined by Kim, representing the US.

This meeting between the three countries’ nuclear envoys for North Korea comes a little over a month since their previous meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on Sept. 14. Noh and Kim last met 18 days ago on Sept. 30 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

These are just the most recent talks in a flurry of high-level deliberations between South Korea and the US since Moon’s address at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 21 and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s policy speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sept. 29.

Suh Hoon, director of the Blue House National Security Office, provided a detailed explanation of the South Korean government’s plan for an end-of-war declaration in a meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

After South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong met with US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22, the two diplomats held another brief meeting, at Chung’s request, while attending the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on Oct. 5.

On Wednesday, CIA Director William Burns made his first visit to South Korea since assuming the post and paid a courtesy call on Moon. US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines will reportedly be visiting South Korea this week for a meeting with top intelligence officials from South Korea and Japan.

This string of high-level discussions is prompting some to wonder whether change may be in store for the Korean Peninsula, including inter-Korean affairs. But the South Korean government isn’t anticipating any significant changes right away.

“Those meetings were all organized separately,” a government official said, explaining that the similar timeframe was coincidental. That explanation is reinforced by the fact that the administration of US President Joe Biden remains cautious about making an end-of-war declaration.

That said, the Americans have expressed their openness to resuming dialogue with North Korea. Considering that the motivations behind the US intelligence chiefs’ visit to South Korea remain unconfirmed, it’s hard to say what the outcome will be.

Given Moon’s determination to make progress on the Korean Peninsula peace process, including an end-of-war declaration, before leaving office, it’s likely that he’ll seize these meetings as a chance to make his case to the US.

By Kim Ji-eun and Hwang Joon-bum, staff reporters

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