Edited by: Mohamed Wadie
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (SEE)- US officials in South Korea confirmed that the Mid-term election results will not affect Washington's stance toward North Korea and its threats in the peninsula.
This came during a tour in the US Embassy in Seoul by an Egyptian delegation visiting the capital. The delegation discussed with the US officials about US-Korean relations and whether America would change its policies toward North Korea if the Democrats won the midterm elections.
The head of the Foreign Policy Unit at the American Embassy in Seoul noted that the Political Bureau of the Embassy is mandated to send periodic reports to Washington about the situation on all levels, especially security and economic levels as well as human rights, in cooperation with the new government in South Korea.
Regarding whether the US policies toward Korea would be different if the Democrats won and ousted Trump, he said: “The US policy is of course different with the leaders, except in that case, because the Republicans’ view is very similar to the Democrats’ towards dealing with North Korea and its nuclear threats.”
“America is in full contact with all countries in the world, including Egypt, to tighten sanctions on North Korea," he elaborated. “The South Korean government has not asked for changes or dismantling the defense system THAAD, as some have claimed.”
Asked about how they treat US diplomats on Korean land with Trump's tweets on the issue of nuclear weapons and whether they affect the course of the negotiations, he said: “Trump is not the only president who has a presence on social media, but such issues should be discussed in closed rooms.”
He continued: “We in this regard, as American diplomats, tell the South Korean side to focus on Trump’s tweets to see what is going on in his head but not to care about it because in the end we have our preset policies.”
On the president's tweets, the official stressed that Trump’s tweets can not be ignored since he is the most powerful man in the country; the head of the executive branch which sets foreign and defense policies.
For his part, the head of the economic department in the embassy clarified that the bureau is looking for trade cooperation opportunities between the two Koreas, yet the sanctions imposed on North Korea make cooperation with the South irrelevant for fear of sanctions.
He pointed out that the nuclear issue is the top priority of the embassy’s work, but ‘Diplomacy is the Solution’. He noted that the North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un had revealed to Trump his intent to back down from his nuclear programs.
“As diplomats, we do not believe that North Korea has a long history of turning back promises. Though President Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believe him,” he added. "We are three to four months away from the Kim-Trump summit. Kim likes to draw attention as North Korea is small and its economy is weak.”
Regarding Beijing's role in solving the Korean peninsula crisis, he elaborated: “The US government has recently recognized the vital role that China plays in resolving the Korean crisis, but we do not always agree with China. The most prominent of these differences are trade practices, currency manipulation and human rights.”
The official noted that the UN sanctions against North Korea did not halt human rights abuses against citizens, “If the North Korean regime had the funds to develop nuclear weapons, it must have the means to feed its people.”
In conclusion, he assured that the American community in South Korea is about 25,000 people, all of whom either work in companies or on the border, as no civilians want to live there.
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