한미 대북제재 엇박자 속, 남북고위급회담 진전은? - 봉영식 박사 대담

To help us break down the latest developments on North Korea, we have Dr. Bong Young-shik, from the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. It's great to have you with us again.

My pleasure.

1 - President Moon has arrived in Europe and he has brought a message with him. As we just heard in that report, President Moon held an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, where he called on the international community to respond to North Korea's decision to denuclearize and show Kim Jong-un that he made the right decision. What do you make of this interview?

2 - On Monday, he will also hold a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. There is much speculation about whether President Moon will talk with Macron about the UN sanctions on North Korea, especially as France is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Do you think that will be discussed, and how far do you think that can go?

3 - In the meantime, South Korea held high-level talks with North Korea at Panmunjeom today. The results of that meeting have come out, and there were various incremental agreements made. If I go over it briefly, they agreed to further military talks to implement the military agreement reached last month... they agreed for red cross talks for further separated family reunion activities, such as video reunions.. But the one that catches the eye most if that they agreed to have a groundbreaking ceremony to connect the rail and road networks by the end of November or early December. What does this mean?

4 - How far can South Korea go independently of the U.S.? They have already ruffled the feathers of those in Washington recently, do you think there is anything here could potentially make things worse?

5 - The U.S. continues to ramp up pressure on North Korea with the Treasury Department adding a list called the 'secondary boycott risk' to North Korea sanctions. What is this exactly and how does this affect the sanctions?

6 - Bolton has said a second Kim-Trump summit is expected to take place in the next couple of months. But from what we know, there seems to be very little progress in the denuclearization negotiations. Does this suggest that there is progress that we don't know about?

7 - This was perhaps especially surprising considering that Bolton is a hawk and has expressed doubt on North Korea's pledges. Is it a good sign that he is optimistic of a second summit?

8 - How does a delayed second summit benefit or hinder North Korea? (Some would say they are stalling to stockpile more nuclear weapons...)