“I tried to arrange for Kim Yeo-jeong to visit the United States instead of Kim Jong-un before the US presidential elections.”

Kim Yeo-jeong, the younger sister of the chairman of the North Korean State Council, Kim Jong-un, the first vice chairman of the Labor Party. [연합뉴스]

The Moon Jae-in administration attempted to arrange a visit to the United States for North Korean Labor Party First Vice Chairman Kim Yeo-jeong ahead of the November presidential elections in the United States, Japanese Yomiuri reported on November 7. Shimbun. It is the latest version of ideas like the one that First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong visited the United States and Kim Yeo-jeong-Ibanka’s meeting organized as a plan to break the stalemate between North Korea and the United States.

The Foreign Ministry immediately denied that it was “not true,” but Mr. Kim’s visit to the United States is drawing attention because it is a plan that has been constantly revised in his passport.

The newspaper cited multiple sources from the negotiations between Korea, the United States, and Japan, and the Korean government promoted the visit of First Vice President Kim Yeo-jung to the US billboard as “ Oktober Surprise, ” but the new coronavirus infection of the US president Donald Trump (Corona 19) confirmed and Mike Pompeo It was reported that the situation became almost impossible due to the cancellation of the visit by the Secretary of State.

At the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, Singapore, where the first summit between the United States and North Korea was held on June 12, 2018, North Korea’s First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong and Secretary of State of The United States, Mike Pompeo, exchanged a joint agreement signed by President Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump. [싱가포르 통신정보부 제공=연합뉴스]

According to Yomiuri, the South Korean government considered holding “ high-level ” talks just before the US presidential election to resume denuclearization talks with the United States. He is said to have convinced the North Korean side that it would be to North Korea’s advantage if President Trump, who was fighting, helped him score points in diplomacy.

South Korea initially sought a “top-down” method among top leaders, but decided that it could not prevent North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s authority from falling if results such as the Vietnam summit in Hanoi in February are released. last year. So this time around, a plan came up to arrange for First Vice President Kim, his brother, to visit the United States on behalf of President Kim, Yomiuri said.

President Moon Jae-in and Labor Party First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong are taking a commemorative photo prior to the Blue House interview on the morning of February 10, 2018. [평양 조선중앙통신=연합뉴스]

The South Korean government has determined that if First Vice President Kim, who has a high reputation and a strong national power base, could be the partner in the meeting between President Trump and Secretary Pompeo.

Yomiuri reported that there was also a view that the Korean National Intelligence Service mentioned Kim Yeo-jung’s “commissioned rule” at the National Assembly Intelligence Committee on August 20, “preliminary work for a visit to the United States.”

In addition, in a talk on July 10, First Deputy Director Kim said: “If possible, I obtained permission from my comrade (Jung-eun Kim) to personally try to obtain a DVD containing the (US) Independence Day celebration. In the future. ” The newspaper interpreted it as accepted as a “sign of the United States.”

The problem was the subject of the conversations. In the first stage of denuclearization, the gap between the US position demanding measures beyond the elimination of the Yongbyon nuclear facility and North Korea’s position preferentially lifting sanctions against North Korea remains large.

Accordingly, Yomiuri reported that the compromise the two countries found in negotiating between high-ranking officials since September was the declaration of the end of the Korean War. If the declaration of war was to end, it was judged that it could be a springboard to guarantee the North Korean regime, and that it could be a diplomatic achievement that would be easy to appeal before the presidential election even for Trump.

President Moon Jae-in’s call for the cooperation of the international community to declare the end of the war in a speech at the UN General Assembly on September 22 was also seen as a cornerstone for the Korean-Korean talks. North and United States.

However, on the 22nd of last month, during talks with First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong, the assassination of a South Korean official in North Korea occurred. One source said that following North Korea’s unusually swift apology (25th), the Moon Jae-in administration’s swift response was to “avoid adverse effects on North Korea-US relations.”

On June 30, 2019, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended the Panmunjom meeting as attendees, respectively, Senior Aide Lee Ban-ka and First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong of the Labor Party. [연합뉴스]

Yomiuri said: “Korea viewed Pompeo’s visit to Korea, scheduled for the last 7-8, as an opportunity for final mediation for Kim Yeo-jeong’s visit to the United States, but with the cancellation of Pompeo’s visit. , the query appears to have passed the deadline. ” However, South Korea and North Korea predicted that they would continue to explore the possibilities of Kim Yeo-jeong’s visit to the United States, awaiting the re-election of President Trump, who had a strong relationship with President Kim.

Lee Do-hoon, head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiations Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with Undersecretary of State Stephen Begon on 28 last month to discuss plans to reopen the dialogue between North Korea and states. United, including the declaration of the end of the war. Immediately after the meeting, Veegan said, “I am very grateful for the creative ideas discussed today” and said, “The United States and South Korea cannot do this, and North Korea’s participation is necessary.”

A Foreign Ministry official said the day that “Yomiuri’s report that the Korean government is promoting First Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong’s visit to the United States is not true.”

A well-established diplomatic source said: “There have been times when various ideas have been raised on various channels, including the proposal that Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong, who is in charge of US-South Korean relations, visit Washington to meet with President Trump’s daughter, adviser Lee Ban-ka, and even Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa participate in this. The first vice president, of course, was not interested in aide Lee Bangka, so I know it wasn’t a serious plan. ”

Reporter Lee Young-hee [email protected]