The president called on Biden to learn from Trump

The president called on Biden to learn from Trump

President Moon Jae-in has vehemently lobbied to organize three Trump summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but that diplomacy is blocked due to disagreements over the easing of US sanctions related to the disarmament of North Korea.

Biden accused Trump of chasing the spectacle of the summit instead of introducing significant restrictions on North Korea's nuclear capabilities.

North Korea has a history of nuclear weapons tests and other provocations to test new US presidents, and Kim Jong-un promised in recent political speeches intended to put pressure on the new Biden administration that he would step up his nuclear weapons program.

The South Korean president is trying to maintain a positive atmosphere for dialogue, against Kim's announcements that he will further expand his nuclear and missile program, which threatens the U.S. Asian allies and the United States.

Although Moon admitted that Biden would probably try a different approach from Trump's, he stressed that Biden could learn something from Trump's successes and failures in contacts with North Korea.

At a largely virtual press conference in Seoul, Moon said Kim still has a "clear readiness" to denuclearize the country if Washington and Pyongyang could find mutually acceptable steps to reduce the nuclear threat and ensure North Korea's security.

Most experts interpret Kim's latest statements as further proof that he will keep his weapons program to ensure the survival of his regime.

"The start of the Biden administration provides a new chance to resume negotiations between North Korea and the United States and also between South and North Korea, which are also stalled with the blockade of nuclear negotiations," Moon said.

The deterioration of inter-Korean relations is quite a big obstacle for Moon, who met with Kim Jong-un three times in 2018 and expressed his desire to encourage inter-Korean economic ties that were stopped due to US sanctions on North Korea.

At the first Trump-Kim summit in June 2018, the two leaders promised to improve bilateral relations and issued general promises on the Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons, without specifying how this will be achieved.

However, negotiations did not move forward during the second meeting in February 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korea's demands for a major lifting of sanctions in exchange for closing the old nuclear reactor, which would be equal to a partial surrender of their nuclear capabilities.

Moon said that the agreement between Trump and Kim reached at the first meeting is still relevant and that the Biden administration should learn lessons from the failure of their second meeting.