World’s two most powerful countries to talk about forming a new relationship to prevent conflict

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

The White House said that the North Korean nuclear issue would be a major agenda item during the summit between the leaders of the US and China which is to be held in California on June 7-8. The two leaders will be discussing a variety of detailed measures for bringing a stop to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, the White House explained.

“There is no reason to doubt that North Korea is a pressing concern in the minds of the two leaders,” said a high-ranking White House official on June 4 who spoke in a conference call with reporters on condition of anonymity.

One reporter asked whether the message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that Choe Ryong-hae, vice marshal of the Korean People's Army, delivered to Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be discussed during the summit. The official responded by saying it was important to pay attention to the attitudes of North Korea and China that were revealed through Choe’s recent visit to China. He went on to say that Xi had reconfirmed China’s commitment to denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, while North Korea had released a statement rejecting the idea of denuclearization immediately after Choe returned home.

The official said that the discussion at the summit will begin with the problem of national security and regional instability that are affecting the US, its allies South Korea and Japan, and China. The cause of this instability and the main threat is the nuclear and missile programs pursued by North Korea, this official stated.

“The challenge for the two leaders is to more specifically identify their joint areas of concern and various actions that both countries can take together. This will involve shutting down North Korea’s nuclear program, returning to the former situation, and alleviating the threat by removing the nuclear program in a verifiable manner,” the official said.

Another high-ranking White House official said that the US has continued to send the message that denuclearization must become the objective for its policy for the Korean peninsula and that North Korea has promised to denuclearize in the past.

The White House officials said that the summit will also include discussion of the new relationship between large powers, as Xi requested. They said that they agree that there is a need to form a mechanism for preventing friction between the two great powers.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]