Seoul steps up peace effort amid Pyongyang’s snub

By CGTN’s The Point 

Seoul on Friday urged Pyongyang to restore its proposed military talks aimed at easing tension on the Korean Peninsula after days of waiting. Experts believed Pyongyang would not respond to this call “in a hurry.” 

South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun said the joint military talks between the two sides, proposed to be held on Friday, were practically impossible given no official reply yet from the DPRK. 

The DPRK's newspaper Rodong Sinmun called the proposal “disingenuous.” 

“South Korean authorities can only be viewed as nonsensical and acting deceptively towards the public by mentioning ‘improving ties,’ while they are still showing hostility and making confrontational attempts against the DPRK,” the paper said.

Zhao Tong, research fellow at Carnegie-Tsinghua center for global Policy, argued at CGTN’s The Point that the “progressive” Moon Jae-in government who seeks a 2020 peace deal with the DPRK is already in Pyongyang’s pocket, and that the DPRK is not in a hurry to do this. 

Instead, Pyongyang wants to put more pressure on South Korea to convince its ally, the US, to be more flexible and be more willing to engage with the DPRK more directly. 

Kiyul Chung, editor-in-chief of the Beijing-based The 4th Media, pointed out that one reason why Pyongyang snubs the call could be that its demand for repatriation for the 21 women abducted in April last year during Park Geun-hye’s administration has not been met yet. 

Rodong Sinmun previously said that no further work should take place between the two countries without the situation being solved, referring to Moon’s attempts to open up dialogue. 

Moon, an advocate of dialogue and exchange with Pyongyang, on Wednesday released a policy roadmap for his five-year term, vowing to reach a “complete denuclearization” of its northern neighbor by 2020. 

Zhao said that the near-term plan, whether suggesting the achievement of denuclearization or the agreement on it reached by 2020, is not “realistic” to freeze or cap the DPRK’s missile and nuclear programs. 

Chung also believed that the peace deal is “completely out of reality,” adding that a peace treaty based on Pyongyang-Washington talks without pre-condition is the only option to denuclearize the peninsula. 

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9.30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5.30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10.30 a.m (0230GMT).