The Third Inter-Korean Summit: A Catalyst for Denuclearization and Peace on the Peninsula?


For Immediate Release: Sept. 17, 2018

Media Contacts: Daryl Kimball, executive director, 202-463-8270 ext 107

This week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea will meet in Pyongyang for only the third Inter-Korean Summit, with a focus on steps to advance their Panmunjeon Declaration and on how to jump-start the U.S.-North Korean talks on denuclearization and peace, which has stalled since the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore.

Today, the UN Security Council will meet in emergency session to discuss enforcement of sanctions against North Korea designed to pressure Pyongyang to negotiate.

Arms Control Association has several background resources and experts available for interview.


QUICK QUOTES:

  • "President Trump did the right thing, trading in violent rhetoric for an opportunity for dialogue. There are dozens of reasons to distrust North Korea’s approach to negotiations and to doubt the capability of the Trump administration to negotiate a meaningful, verifiable denuclearization of North Korea. But the pursuit of negotiation is far preferable to simply sleepwalking toward war, as we seemed to be doing a year ago.” —Thomas Countryman, former assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, and chair of the ACA board of directors
     
  • “The Singapore summit communiqué underscores that progress on denuclearization depends on joint 'efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime' on the Korean peninsula. Kim is not going to give up nuclear weapons if he believes doing so will compromise North Korea’s security. Progress on denuclearization steps—such as a freeze on fissile material production and a declaration detailing North Korea’s program— depends on U.S. support for a joint political declaration on the end of the Korean War.” —Daryl Kimball, executive director


NEWS & ANALYSIS:


FACT SHEETS:


EXPERTS AVAILABLE IN WASHINGTON:

Contact Tony Fleming, director for communications, 202 463 8270 ext 110 to schedule.

  • Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, [email protected], (202) 463-8270 ext. 107
  • Thomas Countryman, former Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and chair of the board for the Arms Control Association, [email protected], (301) 312-3445