North Korea may ignore the issue of US troops stationed in South Korea

Mr. Jeong Se-hyun, former Minister of Unification of South Korea, commented that North Korea could choose to ignore the stationing of US soldiers in South Korea. Photo: AP.

In a speech in Seoul, South Korea, Mr. Jeong, who served as Unification Minister from 2002 to 2004, said that North Korea in the past understood that the presence of US forces in South Korea (USFK) was in exchange for diplomatic goodwill from the US.

“In 1992, then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung sent his secretary to the United States and offered not to withdraw USFK if the two countries established diplomatic relations. However, Washington rejected the proposal. If the proposal had been accepted, Pyongyang might not have tried to develop nuclear weapons. The U.S. government at the time seemed to think that the North Korean regime would collapse on its own,” Jeong said.

Mr. Jeong said that there is no reason for North Korea to live in economic hardship as long as the United States makes a commitment not to provoke it. Mr. Jeong welcomed the government of President Moon Jae-in of South Korea to contribute to improving inter-Korean and US-North Korea relations.

Regarding the relationship between North Korea and Japan, former Minister Jeong said that Tokyo intends to follow the US decision and may seek to establish diplomatic relations with Pyongyang if US-North Korea relations are normalized.

Lan Ha