South Korea: North Korea needs to offer bold measures for nuclear talks to resume

SEOUL, June 27 (UPI) -- North Korea should offer to take bold denuclearization measures to help resume the stalled negotiations with the United States, a special security adviser to President Moon Jae-in said Thursday.

Moon Chung-in, a special presidential adviser for unification, foreign and security affairs, made the remarks during the 5th Yonhap News Symposium on Korean Peace, suggesting an inspection of the North's Punggye-ri nuclear test site and dismantlement of its Dongchang-ri missile launch site as possible options.

"I believe that the North should make the determination for dialogue," he said in a special lecture session. "It will be very desirable for North Korea to come out to talks with a proposal acceptable to both the U.S. and the North."

At the same time, Moon also called on the United States to be more flexible, saying that if it is not going to lift sanctions in the course of the denuclearization negotiations, it should instead be able to discuss security guarantees for the North.

"What I'm saying to the U.S. is that if it insists on putting sanctions relief at the end of the [denuclearization] process, not at the entrance, we need reverse thinking of exchanging establishment of relations between the North and the U.S. for North Korea's denuclearization," he said.

The adviser said U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun's recent comments on the need for a "flexible approach" and Washington's understanding of North Korea's stance emphasizing security guarantees are noteworthy.

The remarks came as North Korea has been ramping up criticism against Seoul and Washington.

Earlier in the day, Kwon Jong-gun, director general of the North Korean foreign ministry's American affairs department, released a statement and called for a new proposal from the United States, saying that not much time is left until the end-of-the-year deadline Pyongyang imposed earlier.

The statement came one day after a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry slammed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials for preventing improvement in relations between the two countries with "antagonism" toward Pyongyang.

Nuclear talks between the North and the United States have been stalled since the February breakdown of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they failed to match Pyongyang's denuclearization steps with Washington's sanctions relief.

In April, the North's leader said that he will wait for the United States to make a "courageous" decision until the end of this year, apparently urging Washington to ease what it sees as unilateral denuclearization demands.