Wi Sung-lac, National Security Adviser at the Presidential Office, will visit Washington D.C. next week to discuss follow-up measures from the Korea-U.S. summit with the Donald Trump administration.
According to diplomatic sources in Washington D.C. on Friday (local time), Wi is expected to arrive in Washington on January 16 for high-level consultations between the two countries. Wi is expected to meet with his counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.
During his visit, Wi is expected to discuss implementation of the joint fact sheet released last month following the Korea-U.S. summit in October, and request cooperation from the Trump administration to accelerate consultations. Earlier, during talks between Vice Foreign Minister Park Yun-joo and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker in Washington on January 2, Seoul and Washington agreed to promptly launch working-level consultative bodies to swiftly implement summit agreements in areas including nuclear energy, shipbuilding, and nuclear-powered submarines. Subsequently, three task forces have been established under the National Security Office—an "enriched uranium task force," a "nuclear-powered submarine task force," and a "defense budget task force"—with working-level consultations with the U.S. currently underway.
Coordination on North Korea policy is also expected to be on the agenda. At a press briefing on January 7 marking the six-month achievements of the Lee Jae-myung administration, Wi said the government would push to resume dialogue with North Korea next year and launch a peace coexistence process on the Korean Peninsula in earnest, adding that Seoul would communicate closely with Washington to that end. Wi is expected to share the government's plans for resuming dialogue with North Korea with the U.S. side.
Diplomatic observers suggest that communication between the U.S. and North Korea, as well as between the two Koreas, could occur around President Trump's planned visit to China in April next year. However, others counter that historically North Korea has only reached out when cornered, and with Pyongyang currently receiving support from Russia and China, it has little incentive to engage in diplomacy.
Attention is also on whether discussions will touch on the National Security Strategy (NSS) recently released by the Trump administration. Unlike previous versions, the NSS—which outlines the administration's foreign policy and security roadmap—made no mention of North Korea or denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, the U.S. clearly articulated a "Monroe Doctrine" approach, signaling it would focus on the Western Hemisphere (the Americas). Diplomatic observers have suggested this may indicate that the North Korea issue has fallen in U.S. priorities.
