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South Korean President Moon Jae-in (third from left) poses for a commemorative photograph with the leaders of the National Assembly’s five political parties on Nov. 5 before a meeting of the permanent governance deliberation body at the Blue House. (Blue House photo pool)

Given the delay of the second North Korea-US summit, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the schedule of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s reciprocal visit to Seoul was being arranged on the assumption that the visit would take place before the end of the year. Moon asked the National Assembly to issue a statement welcoming Kim Jong-un to Seoul while promising not to push ahead with the ratification of the Panmunjom Declaration.

To sum up the accounts provided by the floor leaders from the five parties who attended the meeting of the permanent governance deliberation body that convened at the Blue House on Nov. 5, Moon said that since the second North Korea-US summit had been delayed until next year, deliberations were underway about whether Kim Jong-un’s visit to Seoul should take place before or after the summit.

While the final decision has not been made, Moon said, preparations are being made on the assumption that the visit would take place within the year. While the Blue House had previously declined to comment on discussion of the delay of the North Korea-US summit until next year, which it described as “a matter being deliberated by North Korea and the US,” Moon’s remarks basically make the delay official.

“Chairman Kim’s and the South Korean government’s positions are not the only factors affecting efforts to arrange Chairman Kim’s visit to Seoul within the year. These efforts are inevitably impacted by the results of the North Korea-US negotiations,” Moon said, dismissing the possibility raised in some quarters of Kim visiting Seoul independently from the North Korea-US negotiations.

Participants at the meeting said that Moon told them he would “appreciate it” if the National Assembly “announced a statement welcoming Chairman Kim’s visit to Seoul.” “It’s customary for [North Koreans] to pay a reciprocal visit after we visit Pyongyang, and the leader of the northern half of the Korean Peninsula obviously hasn’t paid a reciprocal visit to Seoul yet. That’s prevented inter-Korean relations from developing, and I hope that Chairman Kim’s return visit to Seoul will finally take place and create a groundbreaking opportunity for inter-Korean relations. I think it would help if the National Assembly came together to extend a welcome, too,” Moon said.

“I suppose the President can take Chairman Kim to Mt. Halla, but if Chairman Kim wants to make a speech before the National Assembly, he must first lay some flowers at the Seoul National Cemetery in the Dongjak neighborhood and issue an apology to South Koreans and to the families of the victims of the Cheonan sinking,” said Kim Sung-tae, floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party.

Moon responded as follows: “When we visit North Korea when there’s a lack of progress in inter-Korean relations, we always have to think about whether or not to allow the South Korean delegation to be taken to sites of significance to the North Koreans, and we pay attention to how that will look in the eyes of the South Korean public. But if we put ourselves in the North Koreans’ shoes, describing such site visits as being a prerequisite to [Chairman Kim’s] return visit would probably put the North Koreans in an awkward position.” Moon also said he would not get involved in the question of whether Kim would deliver a speech before the National Assembly and asked the National Assembly to make that decision.

In regard to pressing security issues, Moon and the five floor leaders agreed to “cooperate on a nonpartisan level in order to achieve lasting peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula amid cooperation and a firm alliance with the US.” The language about “cooperation and a firm alliance with the US” was reportedly included at the request of the Liberty Korea Party. Despite the commitment to nonpartisan cooperation, the ruling and opposition parties remain divided on the question of inter-Korean cooperation, including the ratification of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration.

Perhaps in recognition of the conservative opposition parties’ backlash to the ratification of the Comprehensive Military Agreement, an inter-Korean military agreement aimed at implementing the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and the Panmunjom Declaration, Moon reportedly provided a detailed explanation of the reasons why he had been forced as president to ratify it in accordance with the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act. At the same time, Moon said, “I would really like the Panmunjom Declaration to be ratified and approved, but I won’t hurry that.”

“Since the Comprehensive Military Agreement is a matter of national security, its ratification requires a debate in the National Assembly and the exercise of the National Assembly’s powers of consent,” Kim Sung-tae said.

By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter

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