송상호
| 2026-05-21 08:58:30
US-N Korea-contact
Seoul official says no special U.S.-N. Korea contact appears to be under way
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Yonhap) -- A senior South Korean official said Wednesday there appears to be no special contact between the United States and North Korea, amid lingering speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump could attempt to rekindle his personal diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if an opportunity arises.
After his trip to Beijing last week, Trump told reporters that he has communicated with Kim, claiming he has a "very good" relationship with the reclusive leader. He did not elaborate on what kind of communications he had with Kim.
"What matters most is that cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. regarding North Korea is very close. If there is contact between the U.S. and North Korea, we are bound to learn about it," the official said during a press meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Thus, my understanding is that at this point, there appears to be no special contact (between the U.S. and the North)," he added.
The official also commented on a U.S. fact sheet on last week's summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which stated that the two leaders reaffirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea.
"(South Korea) was able to confirm that when it comes to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. and China share the same goal," he said.
The press meeting came as Seoul's First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo was in Washington for talks largely on the implementation of a joint fact sheet that Seoul and Washington issued in November to outline security and trade agreements from last year's summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Trump.
After his talks with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker on Tuesday, both governments announced that Hooker will lead a U.S. interagency delegation in the coming weeks to launch bilateral working groups on the implementation of the fact sheet in the security domain.
The security portion of the fact sheet includes U.S. cooperation on Seoul's push to build nuclear-powered submarines, and secure rights to civil uranium enrichment and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing.
The Seoul official described the planned launch of the working groups as a reflection of the two countries' will to accelerate security cooperation.
Asked if there was any U.S. resistance to the submarine and nuclear energy projects, the official underscored that those projects will proceed based on the bilateral summit agreements that reflect the two leaders' will for cooperation on them.
On Wednesday, Park held separate meetings with U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.
Speaking to reporters later Wednesday, Park said Colby "highly" regarded Seoul's efforts to undertake a leading role for its own defense, calling South Korea a "model" ally.
Landau described South Korea as being among America's top economic, trade and investment partners, calling on Seoul to work together to yield substantive outcomes through the faithful implementation of the joint fact sheet, the vice minister added.
Before heading to South Korea on Thursday, Park plans to meet Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), who chairs the subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs under the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
During his stay in the U.S. capital, Park also met John Walters, the president of the Hudson Institute, as part of efforts to secure broader support for the implementation of the joint fact sheet.
(END)
[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]