Seoul Searching

• Published in: The National interest no. 161; pp. 10 - 19
• Main Author: Cha, Victor
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Center for the National Interest 01.05.2019; The National Interest, Inc; The National Interest Inc
• Subjects: Agreements; Armed forces; Diplomatic negotiations in international disputes; Foreign policy; International relations; Invasions; Kim Jong Un; Military policy; Moon Jae-in; Negotiation, mediation and arbitration; North Korean foreign relations; Nuclear arms control; Nuclear tests; Olympic games; Pacific settlement of international disputes; Paralympic Games; Peace; Peace negotiations; Peace treaties; Political alliances; Politics; Presidents; Presidents (Government); South Korean foreign relations; Summit meetings; Trump, Donald; Trump, Donald J; United States foreign relations; Winter; World War II; United States; South Korea; North Korea; Singapore; United States > US; Asia; Korean Peninsula; Taiwan
• ISSN: 0884-9382; 1938-1573

The two Koreas and the US appear to be headed, albeit slowly, towards a peace and denuclearization agreement. South Korean president Moon Jae-in has declared his objective of achieving a peace declaration before the end of his presidency and has already held multiple summit meetings with the North Korean leader in 2018 and 2019 for this purpose. President Donald Trump agreed to conclude a peace agreement at the Singapore Summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and sees his remaining time in office as advancing toward this goal. The South Korean government has worked feverishly towards achieving a declaration ending the state of hostilities on the peninsula. After a tumultuous 2017 of missile and nuclear tests by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Moon government utilized the February-March 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics to facilitate high-level exchanges with North Korean officials, including with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong.