News Desk
\nSEOUL
\nSouth Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said Friday that Pyongyang needs to show \u201cvisible, concrete and substantial\u201d denuclearization action if it wants sanctions relief, as the North\u2019s deadlock with the United States continues. Kang\u2019s comments at a press conference come just days after a senior North Korean official warned Washington of an \u201cunwanted outcome\u201d if it didn\u2019t adjust its stance on economic sanctions.
\nWashington and Pyongyang have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in February.
\nThe summit broke down after cash-strapped Pyongyang demanded immediate sanctions relief, but the two sides disagreed on what the North should give up in return. South Korean president Moon Jae-in \u2014 who brokered the first meeting between the mercurial leaders \u2014 has tried to salvage the diplomacy, but Pyongyang has remained largely unresponsive.
\nEarlier this week, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Pyongyang\u2019s denuclearization will \u201conly be possible when the US revises and reshapes its current calculation.\u201d
\nBut Seoul\u2019s Kang said sanctions relief requires action from Pyongyang that \u201cassures us that they are well on their way to complete denuclearization,\u201d stressing that existing sanctions have been imposed by the United Nations, not just Washington. \u201cTherefore there has to be some visible, concrete and substantial action on that track for the global community to do anything about the sanctions,\u201d she said.
\nSeparately, Kang told the press conference that Seoul was doing everything it could to secure the release of seven North Korean defectors currently held in China.
\nRights groups, who in the past have accused South Korea of pursuing rapprochement with Pyongyang at the expense of human rights, say the seven face forcible repatriation, and protesters held a rally in front of China\u2019s embassy in Seoul this week pressing Beijing not to send them back.
\nKang said although human rights were \u201cnot a priority\u201d at the moment, \u201cthe South Korean government has been participating in and supporting the international community\u2019s efforts\u201d on the issue.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s not a priority for the government to bring this issue to the (negotiating) table of denuclearization and building of a peace regime with North Korea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Desk SEOUL South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha said Friday that Pyongyang needs to show \u201cvisible, concrete and substantial\u201d denuclearization action if it wants sanctions relief, as the North\u2019s deadlock with the United States continues. Kang\u2019s comments at a press conference come just days after a senior North Korean official warned Washington of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n