South Korea plans to simultaneously seek to provide a security guarantee for North Korea and make the North give up nuclear weapons when the two Koreas hold a summit, Seoul's spy agency said Monday.
The National Intelligence Service briefed lawmakers on the issue as South and North Korea are to hold high-level talks Thursday to prepare for a summit slated for late April.
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The National Intelligence Service (Yonhap) |
"We are not to hold talks on the premise of the security guarantee for the North's regime," the spy agency was quoted as saying by lawmakers on the parliamentary intelligence committee. "There will be simultaneous pursuit of giving the North what it wants and making it abandon nuclear weapons."
North Korea's denuclearization is likely to top the agenda for the inter-Korean summit at a time when US President Donald Trump has agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by May.
Trump's surprise decision came as South Korean special envoys who met Kim in early March relayed to Trump the North Korean leader's expression of commitment to denuclearization.
A mood of rapprochement has been created on the Korean Peninsula as the North sent athletes, musicians and cheerleaders to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics held in South Korea last month.
The NIS told lawmakers that North Korea has a firm resolve for dialogue and a willingness for denuclearization.
"North Korea hopes to be recognized as a real, normal state," a lawmaker said, citing the briefing from the NIS.
Meanwhile, the NIS said that Washington's replacement of its top diplomat and national security advisor will likely have little impact on US policy on North Korea.
Last week, Trump announced the replacement of his chief national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, with John Bolton, a hardliner on North Korea.
The move followed the recent dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ahead of a proposed summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. Mike Pompeo, head of the Central Intelligence Agency, will replace Tillerson.
