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Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha smiles as she leaves a press briefing at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in the Jongno District of Seoul on Dec. 26. (by Shin So-young

With the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics greasing the wheels of inter-Korean dialogue, foreign ministers from more than twenty countries will be gathering in Vancouver, Canada, on Jan. 16 to discuss Korean Peninsula issues. The ministers in attendance, who largely represent countries whose troops fought for the UN during the Korean War, are expected to discuss the current inter-Korean dialogue, along with topics such as strengthening maritime interdiction operations against North Korea. It will be interesting to see what effect this meeting has on the precarious situation on the Korean Peninsula.

On the afternoon of Jan. 15, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha departed South Korea to attend the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, which is taking place in Vancouver. After delivering a keynote address at the opening ceremony on Jan. 16, Kang will reportedly attend various sessions to explain the President Moon Jae-in’s policy toward North Korea and to ask the participating countries to help the new inter-Korean dialogue lead to denuclearization talks.

“[Minister Kang] will be talking about the government’s basic position that sanctions and dialogue should go hand in hand. She will also be explaining to the participating countries that, despite the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue and the confirmation of [North Korea’s] participation in the Pyeongchang [Olympics], South Korea is not naïve about the situation. Even so, she will try to convince them that this is clearly an opportunity [to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue],” said one South Korean government official.

This meeting was inspired by an open proposal by the Canadian Foreign Minister and the US Secretary of State soon after North Korea launched the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the end of Nov. 2017. The meeting was originally intended to consist of the UN Command Sending States, which is to say the countries that fought for the UN during the Korean War. Subsequently, invitations were also extended to Japan, India and Sweden, bringing the total of participating countries to over 20.

The US, which is one of the co-hosts of the meeting, is expected to call on the international community to pressure North Korea through measures including maritime interdiction of North Korean vessels. On Jan. 12, the US State Department released a joint statement with the 16 countries in the Operational Experts Group of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI, an initiative that tries to stop trafficking in weapons of mass destruction) in support of the strict implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions No. 2375 and No. 2397, which imposed sanctions on North Korea.

The PSI is an international body with 105 member countries committed to taking interdiction operations against vessels and aircraft suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction, but questions have been raised about why this statement was released prior to the meeting in Vancouver. During the US State Department briefing on Jan. 11, US State Department Senior Policy Advisor Brian Hook said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would ask for help with creating a legitimate way to put pressure on Pyongyang during the Vancouver meeting and that maritime interdiction operations would be discussed. This leaves no doubt that the US will underline its efforts to put pressure on the North during this meeting.

On the other hand, Canada, the other co-host of the meeting, seemed to be taking on the role of a mediator on the North Korean nuclear issue by declaring its belief that a coordinated diplomatic solution is both necessary and feasible.

On Jan. 8, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency angrily described the Vancouver meeting as being a “a dangerous game” by the US to keep raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the region by ratcheting up sanctions and pressure. This is leading to concerns that the ongoing inter-Korean dialogue could be affected in some way by the outcome of discussions at the meeting and by the North’s reaction. But given the wide range of countries participating in the meeting and the fact that this is their first meeting, there is also speculation that it is unlikely to produce anything tangible.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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