US Sends Positive Signal to North Korea: Seoul

He was briefing foreign correspondents on Friday on the outcome of the New York summit between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier this week.

"(Moon and Trump) exchanged views on how to achieve substantive results at an early stage in the working-level negotiations between the United States and North Korea," Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung earlier said in an English-language statement, Yonhap news agency reported.

In this regard, she added, they reaffirmed their willingness to "transform their respective relationships with North Korea, end nearly 70 years of hostility and establish a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula."

While the phrase did not appear in the US readout, the official said, the wording was coordinated between the allies' National Security Councils (NSC).

He noted that the US has agreed to use the word "transform," which was unthinkable when John Bolton, known for his hawkish view on Pyongyang, served as Trump's national security adviser.

Some other American officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Special Representative Stephen Biegun, have talked publicly about "transforming" the Washington-Pyongyang relationship.

The Seoul official, however, stressed that it was "the very first time (for the word) to be used between the two houses -- White House and Blue House -- which showcases how willing and resolved the two top leaders are committed to transforming the relationship with the DPRK," according to an audio file released by Cheong Wa Dae. DPRK is the initialism for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Hopefully, he added, Pyongyang will accept it as "a very strong, or reassuring signal" that Seoul and Washington are "ready to transform the relationships to a level that we've never been to, in other words, terminating 70 years of hostility."

He was responding to the view of some local media that Cheong Wa Dae may be attaching excessive meaning to it in an apparent bid to publicize the summit results.

In fact, Trump stated in his Singapore summit accord with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year that the two sides "commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity."

It's uncertain whether the US draws a clear distinction between "transforming" ties with Pyongyang and "establishing" new ones.

The Seoul official also took note of the reappearance of Kim Kye-gwan, a veteran North Korea nuclear negotiator, with a special message carried by Pyongyang's state news agency on Thursday.

"I came to know that President Trump is different from his predecessors in a political sense and decision (making) while watching his approach to the DPRK, so I would like to place my hope on President Trump's wise choices and bold decisions," Kim, who now works as an adviser to the North Korean foreign ministry, said.

Kim was emphasizing that the US should bring a new set of methods for negotiations, decided by Trump himself, the South Korean official said.

He added it was quite interesting that Kim has mentioned two things -- the South Korea-US combined military exercises and sanctions -- which represents a clear signal from Pyongyang.

On ways to move forward the denuclearization process, the official said dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex could be an "irreversible" starting point, as the North has already committed to giving it up.

"Once you have confidence in irreversible denuclearization, whether you like (it) or not, it has to be incremental," he said.