[Editorial] Are US envoy and Trump on the identical web page about North Korea?

After South Korean President Lee Jae Myung lately used the phrase “Korean Peninsula with out nuclear weapons” instead of “North Korea’s denuclearization” when discussing the North Korean nuclear concern, the appearing US ambassador to Korea, Kevin Kim, reportedly raised considerations that such language may foster misunderstanding about tolerating North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

However below that commonplace, it’s the US authorities and President Donald Trump who’re at fault for describing North Korea as a “nuclear energy” and never making a single point out of the North Korean nuclear menace within the lately launched Nationwide Safety Technique doc.

Throughout the Korea-US summit in late August, Lee earned Trump’s approval for his “peacemaker-pacemaker” narrative, which holds that North Korea-US relations should enhance earlier than any progress might be made on Korean Peninsula affairs. Absolutely, it’s a pointless distraction for the appearing US ambassador to have his say after the Korean and American leaders have already agreed to take a versatile angle to interrupt via the logjam in dialogue with North Korea.

The Hankyoreh discovered Wednesday that Kim, in a current assembly with senior Korean officers within the areas of overseas coverage and nationwide safety, stated that Lee must have spoken explicitly, as a substitute of equivocally, about North Korea’s denuclearization. Kim reportedly added that such equivocations may ship the incorrect sign to the North.

Within the launch ceremony for the Peaceable Unification Advisory Council on Dec. 2, Lee stated, “I’ll proceed working to finish the state of hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, pursue a Korean Peninsula with out nuclear weapons and set up enduring peace. I’ll work to ascertain peace on the Korean Peninsula via cooperation with the US.”

Kim asserted that the Korean president shouldn’t have used the phrase “Korean Peninsula with out nuclear weapons,” since that doesn’t specify that North Korea is the nation that should denuclearize.

The US’ appearing ambassador reportedly additionally criticized Unification Minister Chung Dong-young’s push to “alter” the joint navy workouts that the US and South Korea are scheduled to carry within the first half of 2026.

In September 2022, North Korea unveiled a nuclear doctrine authorizing preliminary nuclear strikes. It has additionally refused to interact in any inter-Korean dialogue since late 2023, when it described South and North Korea as two hostile states.

As for dialogue with the US, North Korea has lengthy specified that it’ll not interact in any dialogue oriented on denuclearization.

One assumes that when Trump describes North Korea as a “nuclear energy” and brags about being on good phrases with North Korean chief Kim Jong-un, he’s on the lookout for some form of breakthrough for this case.

In the long run, Kim’s remarks suggest that the US is the one nation that will get to be versatile on the North Korean nuclear concern. That’s hardly a good technique to deal with an ally.

Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]