US cautious over talks with DPRK

Moon urges Washington to lower the threshold for discussions

The White House said on Monday it would "wait and see" whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's hope for talks with the United States means it is serious about denuclearization, after Pyongyang said it was willing to hold talks with Washington.

The White House said on Sunday in a statement that there will be a "brighter path" available for Pyongyang if it chooses denuclearization.

In response, ROK President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that the US should lower the threshold for talks with the DPRK, while Pyongyang should in return show willingness toward denuclearization.

"There is a need for the United States to lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and North Korea should show it is willing to denuclearize. It's important the United States and North Korea sit down together quickly," Moon said, adding that the ROK hopes for "constructive" talks between the DPRK and the US.

Earlier on Sunday, the ROK's presidential Blue House said that the DPRK high-ranking delegation led by its vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea Kim Yong-chol, had showed willingness to talk with the US after the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Li Chengri, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the attitudes of the DPRK and the US to solve the Korean Peninsula nuclear crisis via dialogue came from the eagerness to take advantage of the mood for dialogue created by the Olympics.

According to the ROK's Presidential Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom, Moon said in a closed-door meeting with the DPRK delegation that dialogue between the DPRK and the US should be rapidly held to fundamentally resolve the Korean Peninsula issues and improve ties between the ROK and the DPRK.

The DPRK delegation told Moon that Pyongyang shared his view that relations between the ROK and DPRK and those between the DPRK and the US should make progress together.

Meanwhile, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said US President Donald Trump remains committed to achieving the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" in the peninsula and that his "maximum pressure campaign" against the DPRK must continue until it abandons its nuclear and missile programs.

Sanders said the US, the ROK and the international community "broadly agree" that denuclearization must be the outcome of any dialogue with DPRK, and that its sanctions on the DPRK would continue.

Washington announced on Friday it was imposing its largest package of sanctions to pressure the DPRK to give up its nuclear and missile programs.

Wang Junsheng, an associate researcher at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Washington's strategy of putting "maximum pressure" on the DPRK is hardly affected by the recent rapprochement, adding that the new sanctions will no doubt damage the DPRK's international recognition.

Wang said China, the ROK, Russia and the international community as a whole have made continuously efforts to mediate and lower the tensions within the Korean Peninsula, both US and the DPRK should give up hostile attitudes and have talks to solve the issues peacefully.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

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