美国国家公共电台 NPR South Korean Officials Meet Kim Jong Un To Pave The Way For U.S. Talks

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

South Korea, like the United States, has an intelligence chief. South Korea also has a head of a national security council. It is safe to say that for those two South Koreans, job No. 1 is to get inside the head of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, their neighbor who periodically threatens them with war and who, under normal circumstances, they would never, ever, ever get to meet. Today, they're meeting him. They're part of a South Korean delegation 1 making a trip to Pyongyang. NPR's Elise Hu covers the Koreas for us, joins us now from Seoul.

Hi, Elise.

ELISE HU, BYLINE 2: Hi there.

INSKEEP: Is this as big a deal as it seems?

HU: It is. This is believed to be the first time Kim Jong Un has spoken face to face with South Korean officials since he took power in 2011. And it's part of this diplomatic offensive that he's been on since January 1. It's all happened rather quickly and quite a departure from last year when all we saw was a string of weapons tests and rhetoric 4 from both North Korean state media and Kim himself and U.S. President Donald Trump 5. So a lot has happened diplomatically here on the Korean Peninsula just within the last couple of months.

INSKEEP: Well, what is the purpose of the trip?

HU: We'll find out soon what comes out of the meeting itself, but this 10-member delegation was sent by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. It's a reciprocal trip. So this comes after the North Korean leaders made a trip to the Winter Olympics...

INSKEEP: Oh, yeah.

HU: ...Last month. And the envoy 6 essentially 7 are hoping to discuss preconditions for not only an inter-Korean summit between Moon and Kim Jong Un possibly, but also preconditions for a potential U.S.-North Korea dialogue to take place.

INSKEEP: OK, preconditions - that just means agreeing on what the terms of debate would be, what they would be talking about. What preconditions has the United States set for talking with North Korea?

HU: Well, we've talked about this a few times now. And the Trump administration has said it doesn't want to have any formal dialogue unless North Korea is willing to talk about giving up its nuclear weapons. President Trump spoke 3 at a Washington dinner this weekend and said, "North Korea, by the way, called up a couple of days ago," which we don't know, you know, if that's the case - but he said, "North Korea called up a couple of days ago and said, we would like to talk. And I said, so would we, but you have to denuke, you have to denuke." That's the direct quote from President Trump but not a detailed 8 policy statement. That does however - right.

INSKEEP: Yeah, we should be clear this was at the Gridiron Dinner, so the president is telling jokes. He goes on to say, I would not rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un. As far as the risk of dealing 9 with a madman is concerned, that's his problem, not mine - president of the United States.

HU: So - right. Right now, we're not clear whether he was joking or whether this is a policy statement. But clearly, the position of the United States has been that they don't want to meet or that the country doesn't want to meet with North Korea without denuclearization being on the table.

INSKEEP: Well, where does that leave things if North Korea is not willing to put its nuclear program on the table at all?

HU: Right. That's right. North Korea has said it wants to go to the table as equals. And there is possibly wiggle room if the U.S. maybe softens 10 its stance and says that North Korea maybe agreeing to freeze - to a freeze or a moratorium 11 in developing its program, that might be enough to start a dialogue. But this is all unclear right now, Steve.

INSKEEP: If it's not too likely soon that North Korea's president will be talking with President Trump or that North Korea would be talking directly with Americans, could North Korea's president be talking with South Korea's president anytime soon?

HU: It could. President Moon practically agreed to go to Pyongyang after Kim Jong Un's sister delivered the invite when she came here to South Korea for the Olympics. But President Moon said the conditions for that meeting still have to be set first. And one of the South Korean president's conditions was that North Korea make a more concerted effort to have dialogue with the U.S. And it's clear that that seems to be happening now with the summit between Kim Jong Un and the South Korean envoys 12 in Pyongyang.

INSKEEP: Do all of these talks make things feel less tense?

HU: They do. You know, Seoul and Washington are expected to start military exercises, though, in early April, so there's not a whole lot of time for this cooldown to turn into something more promising 13 diplomatically. So we'll - we will see.

INSKEEP: NPR's Elise Hu, thanks very much.

HU: You bet.

INSKEEP: She's in Seoul.