[ISSUE TALK] South and North Korean military talk, but no joint statement

남북 장성급 회담, 군사적 긴장 완화 의견 일치 - 김현욱 교수 대담

To further discuss the outcome of these latest inter-Korean military talks, we have with us Professor Kim Hyun-wook from the Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Thank you for coming in today.

Pleasure to be here.

1 - The meeting between the military officials of South and North Korea took place. It seems to have been a mixed bag of results. On one hand, they are said to have agreed in principle to lower tensions, but on the other, no joint communique was agreed. What do you make of the outcome of the talks?

2 - It perhaps seems strange, as North Korea were the ones who invited South Korea to the talks in the first place, which is unusual. Why do you think they did not want to commit to an agreement? There's some who say there wanted more promise on working towards a declaration to the end of the Korean War...

3 - A North Korean newspaper on Tuesday said that South Korea needs to lift sanction on North Korea to truly improve inter-Korean relations. It's a quite a strong call, and one which for South Korea will not be an easy one to fulfill. But what do you make of the fact that North Korea has called for this? What can we read from this?

4 - According reports by Voice of America, the U.S. expressed its support for Seoul's decision to shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2016. However, Suh Hoon, the director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service visited the U.S. last week and said to have talked about getting sanctions exemptions to deal with North Korea. Do you think Kaesong would have been one of the things they talked about?

5 - South Korea's vice unification minister, Chun Haesung went to North Korea as well on Wednesday, supposedly to inspect the venues for separated family reunions later this month. But do you think there was some other motive for him to go?


6 - The Washington Post has reported intelligence sources, saying North Korea is working on new ICBM missiles. The first question is how far can we trust these kinds of reports?

7 - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also revealed at a Senate hearing last week that they are aware that North Korea is continuing to make fissile material. How much do you think the U.S. knows about North Korea's nuclear activities?

8 - I've read reports that say experts are not at all surprised about these reports. Does this put doubt on North Korea's sincerity towards its promises of denuclearization?

8a - North Korea has been showing good signs lately with the return of the U.S. soliders remains, and dismantling of some nuclear facilites. What more does North Korea need to do to convince Washington?

Thank you for your time.