Moon, Biden agree on diplomatic approach on North Korea denuclearization

Figure1President Moon Jae-in speaks as U.S. President Joe Biden listens during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House, Washington, D.C., Friday (local time). AP-Yonhap

Korea-US missile guidelines abolished

By Nam Hyun-woo, Joint Press Corps

SEOUL/WASHINGTON ― President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden have reaffirmed their commitment to engage in talks with North Korea for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, with the latter appointing a special envoy to Pyongyang.

Also, the two leaders decided to end U.S. guidelines on South Korea's missile development programs, as well as establishing a comprehensive vaccine partnership that includes Korean biologics firms manufacturing approved U.S. vaccines.

The agreements came after a summit at the White House, Friday (local time), which marked Biden's second in-person meeting with a head of state since taking office in January.

"President Biden and I discussed the commitments made between the two Koreas, and the U.S. and North Korea that are essential for creating a peaceful Korean Peninsula," Moon said during a press conference after the summit. "President Biden also expressed support for inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation. In close cooperation with the U.S., we will work to facilitate progress in inter-Korean relations so as to achieve a virtuous cycle in U.S.-North Korea dialogue."

Moon said the "most urgent common task" for the two countries was achieving complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. He added that the Biden administration has promptly completed its North Korea policy review, and this showed the U.S. considers its policy toward Pyongyang "as one of its priorities," noting that there were no differences between the two countries regarding a time schedule for the denuclearization.

Biden said he agreed with Moon's remarks that the two countries goal "remains complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and he wanted to make "practical progress and increase the security for the U.S. and our allies."

"Our two nations also shared a willingness to engage diplomatically with the DPRK to take pragmatic steps to reduce tensions as we move toward our ultimate goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Biden said, referring to North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In the joint statement released after the press conference, the two nations reaffirmed that their diplomacy and dialogue will be based on previous inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea agreements, including the 2018 Panmunjeom Declaration between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the Singapore Joint Statement between Kim and Biden's predecessor Donald Trump.

In that context, Biden announced his appointment of former U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Sung Kim as a special envoy to North Korea.

Kim served as special envoy to the multilateral six-party talks with North Korea during the Barack Obama administration, and contributed to the 2018 Singapore statement while serving as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines.

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The U.S. statement of its intention to support inter-Korean dialogue and previous commitments comes as a breakthrough for Moon's efforts to promote a "peace mood" for better inter-Korean relations, which have been stalemated since a 2019 U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi ended in failure.

While supporting Moon's efforts to engage with Pyongyang, however, Biden said he would not meet North Korean leader Kim without his commitment to discuss the North's nuclear arsenal.

"If he made any commitment, I would meet with him. … And the commitment has to be that there's discussion about his nuclear arsenal," Biden said. "I would not do what we have done in the recent past. I would not give him all he is looking for ― international recognition as legitimate, and give him what allowed him to move in a direction of appearing to be more serious about what he wasn't at all serious about."

U.S. President Joe Biden and President Moon Jae-in depart the East Room of the White House after a joint news conference, Friday (local time). AP-Yonhap

During the press conference, Biden also mentioned that he and Moon addressed issues of stronger cooperation with regional partners including the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) members, and trilateral cooperation with Japan, which are thorny issues for South Korea.

The Quad is a U.S.-led unofficial strategic network for cooperation between U.S. Australia, India and Japan, and is widely seen to as being designed to contain an assertive China, despite U.S. denials. Seoul's relations with Tokyo remain chilly following disputes over a series of historical issues.

Missile guidelines lifted; vaccine cooperation agreed

The two leaders additionally agreed to fully lift U.S. restrictions on South Korea's missile development programs. "I am pleased to announce the termination of the missile guidelines," Moon told reporters.

The missile programs have been limited for the past 42 years, after the guidelines were established in 1979. Seoul agreed to bring in or develop missiles under U.S. control, in order to gain related technologies. But that decision curbed the maximum capabilities of South Korea's missiles to a range of 180 kilometers with a payload of 500 kilograms. Since then, Seoul and Washington have been engaged in a series of negotiations to ease the limits.

Also at the press conference, Moon and Biden announced that the U.S. will provide COVID-19 vaccinations for 550,000 South Korean troops and participate in a comprehensive KORUS Global Vaccine Partnership with Seoul.

"We'll provide full vaccinations for all 550,000 of those Korean forces engaging with American forces on a regular basis, both for their sake, as well as the sake of the American forces," Biden said.

Through the partnership, Moon said U.S. vaccine technology will create synergy with South Korea's manufacturing capability, which will accelerate the supply of vaccines for the world.

Regarding South Korean companies' investments in the U.S., Biden applauded them, saying, the "new investments are going to create thousands of good paying jobs and jobs in the future right here in the United States," and "they are going to help fortify and secure the supply chains for things like semiconductors and electric batteries."

Hours before the summit, South Korean companies announced plans to invest $39.4 billion in various chip and EV battery projects in the United States.

Before the summit, Moon had a meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss a variety of alliance issues, and attended a White House ceremony to grant the Medal of Honor to Korean War veteran Ralph Puckett Jr. He also took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.