[Editorial] US needs to show some creativity and flexibility for all-inclusive denuclearization

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump during the 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2018.

On Apr. 6, US President Donald Trump said that the North Korea-US denuclearization talks have to result in the right deal. He was presumably pressuring North Korea to accede to US demands for an all-inclusive agreement. On the same occasion, Trump also boasted of his very good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, making clear his determination to resume dialogue with the Pyongyang. Trump has once again affirmed his “grand bargain” strategy of leaving open the door to dialogue while being unwilling to lift or even ease sanctions on North Korea until it has denuclearized. But insisting on a grand bargain isn’t enough to bring about the North’s denuclearization and dialogue, and the US needs to be a little more flexible on the issue of sanctions, which is of such interest to the North.

An all-in-one deal that would swap North Korea’s denuclearization for the lifting of sanctions got a hearing during the North Korea-US Hanoi summit at the end of February, and since then it seems to have taken its place as the Trump administration’s default negotiating strategy. On Apr. 5, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphatically said that economic sanctions on North Korea “will not be lifted until we achieve the ultimate objective that we set out now almost two years ago.”

In contrast, North Korea rejects the grand bargain proposal as an absurd demand for the North’s disarmament, at a time of low mutual trust. The reality is that no progress can be reached in the negotiations without an appropriate compromise. In order to rescue dialogue from the impasse it has faced since the end of February, North Korea and the US ought to review creative and flexible options instead of sticking to their guns. Considering that the US has an overwhelming advantage in terms of bargaining power, a breakthrough won’t be reached until the US makes the first move.

It’s precisely for that reason that eyes are on the mediating role of South Korean President Moon Jae-in in his summit with Trump, which will be held on Apr. 11. Seoul is reportedly cooking up a solution based on cooperating with the US on the North Korea issue, which it aims to propose during the summit. We hope that Moon and Trump will explore ways to get the denuclearization talks moving again during their summit in Washington, DC.

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