“The year of the beginning of the great breakthrough”: how did the relations of the DPRK and South Korea change in 2018

DPRK President Kim Jong-un wrote a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae Inu, in which he suggested that next year often hold joint summits and develop cooperation. This is reported by the representative of the South Korean head Kim Uy Gyom.

“Chairman Kim said that he was ready to meet frequently with President Moon next year to advance the debate on peace and prosperity and solve the problem of the denuclearization of the peninsula,” he said.

Moon Jae Ying in his reply letter noted “Kim Jong-un's desire to work on the practical resolution of various problems with a view to denuclearizing and creating peace and prosperity,” confirming his readiness for the meeting.

“Thank you for sending this spiritual letter to this busy time ... I wish you and your family good health and look forward to seeing you next year,” RIA Novosti quotes a message from the President of South Korea.

During this year, the leaders held three meetings among themselves: in April in the border village of Pangmundzhom on the South Korean side, then in the same village, but already on the North Korean side, and also in September in the DPRK capital Pyongyang.

Following the talks, the parties decided to connect the railways and highways of the two countries, began the process of withdrawing the military from the demilitarized zone between the two states, banning large-scale artillery exercises and military flights near the border and send a single team to the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo.

In addition, Mun Jae Ying invited the North Korean leader to Seoul and if Kim Jong-un accepts the invitation, this will be the first such visit in history. The leader of the DPRK in his letter expressed a desire to visit Seoul in the future.

The agreements reached between the South and the North were implemented in practice. Thus, in October, the countries completed the disarmament of the joint protection zone at the Panmunjom border checkpoint. And on November 20, the DPRK destroyed 10 checkpoints on the border between the countries. Already on November 22 the military of the two countries connected the highway. A month later, on December 26, a ceremony was held in honor of the commencement of work on the connection and modernization of railways between the North and the South.

The outgoing year was a turning point in the relations of the South and the North, noted the head of the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Zhebin.

“The year 2018 will go down in the history of inter-Korean relations as the year of the beginning of a great breakthrough in their relations. Three summits throughout the year, even for relations between ordinary countries, are a rather unusual event, ”he said in an interview with RT.

According to the expert, the successes achieved in cooperation between Pyongyang and Seoul, show that you should not expect a rollback in relations.

“Attempts to normalize relations and move to cooperation, finding compromises were made earlier ... Now, judging by the determination of the leaders of the North and the South and their practical steps, there is a chance that a big step will be made towards maintaining stable cooperation, without kickbacks, ”he stressed.

“There can be no concessions only from North Korea”

At the same time, between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, there was only one personal meeting. It took place on June 12, 2018 in Singapore. According to its results, Pyongyang undertook obligations to de-nuke the peninsula, while Washington should have provided security guarantees.

Already in July, it became known about the dismantling of the Sohe landfill, where ballistic missiles were tested. The authorities made a decision to undermine the tunnels at the Punheri test site, which was dismantled this spring.

However, North Korea stopped at this because the United States did not provide the promised security guarantees, said Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko after meeting with the North Korean leadership.

“The leader of the DPRK says that there can be no concessions only from North Korea, that this should be a movement towards each other from both South Korea and the United States, so that firm security guarantees from the international community can be given to Pyongyang. And of course, the efforts of both Russia and China in these processes are very important, ”she said in an exclusive interview with RT.

In October, a meeting took place between Kim Jong-un and the head of the US State Department, Mike Pompeo. They agreed to form a working group on denuclearization. At the end of the same month, the special representative of the State Department on the DPRK, Stephen Bigun, visited North Korea, after which the decision to establish a working group was confirmed.

“Both countries agreed to create a new working group that would further deepen our close coordination on diplomacy, on denuclearization, on sanctions and inter-Korean cooperation, which would comply with UN sanctions,” said State Department spokesman Robert Palladino.

At the same time, on December 16, the United States Foreign Affairs Institute at the DPRK Foreign Ministry announced that Washington’s pressure on Pyongyang could lead to the rejection of denuclearization.

The head of the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Zhebin, believes that the United States deliberately slows down the inter-Korean settlement so as not to lose justification for finding its troops in this region.

“After all, the main thesis, justifying the presence of American troops in South Korea, and in Japan, is the North Korean military threat. And if the North and the South reconcile, how to explain the presence of troops and missile defense? Therefore, Americans always, when the North and the South began to cooperate, began to sound the alarm, ”he said.

Moreover, even the conclusion of a contract between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump will not solve the problem, says Institute Director Ho Chi Minh, professor at St. Petersburg State University Vladimir Kolotov. He recalled that over the past year, Washington has withdrawn from a number of previously signed agreements.

At the beginning of his term as president, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
In May 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan on Iran, which called for the lifting of sanctions in Tehran in exchange for the abandonment of its nuclear program. In early October, Washington announced its withdrawal from the Optional Protocol on Mandatory Dispute Resolution to the 1961 Vienna Convention and the 1955 Treaty of Friendship with Iran.

In late October of this year, Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Medium-Range and Short-Range Missiles, signed between the USA and the USSR in 1987.

“The problem is that North Korea can go for rapprochement only if the issue of a security threat is removed. For this you need a contract with the United States. But no contract, even if it is formally signed, will cost even the paper on which it is written. And everyone understands this, ”he said in an interview with RT.