By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump could put on the table the "tacit" acceptance of North Korea's nuclear program, a peace treaty and an end to South Korea-U.S. military exercises should a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un take place, a former U.S. official has said.
Anthony Ruggiero, who served as the National Security Council's (NSC) director for North Korea during the first Trump administration, made the comment in an opinion piece published by The Hill, a U.S. media outlet, on Thursday as Trump recently expressed his intention to meet Kim later this year.
Speculation has continued that Trump could seek a meeting with Kim during his next trip to Asia, likely to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November, as The Wall Street Journal recently reported.
"Negotiations with Kim will likely include at least a tacit acknowledgement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program," he said.
Ruggiero went on to say, "In addition to Washington's acceptance of North Korea's nuclear program, Trump could offer a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, a better political and economic relationship, and a permanent end to military exercises with South Korea."
He added that Trump could also facilitate future negotiations between the two Koreas.
As Trump intends to rekindle his personal diplomacy with Kim, concerns have arisen that he could take a more practical approach to the North, shifting Washington's policy focus to goals short of denuclearization, such as arms control or tension reduction.
Those concerns were recently reinforced as Trump revealed that Pyongyang has 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, and declined to answer a question about whether his goal in his potential reengagement with Kim remains denuclearization.
Apparently mindful of those concerns, the State Department on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the "complete" denuclearization of North Korea. A U.S. official also said separately that there has been "no change" in U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.
In the opinion piece, Ruggiero underscored the need for Trump to insist on "verifiable" limits on Pyongyang's long-range ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs should a meeting with Kim resume. Any deal would also need to include North Korea withdrawing all troops and military assistance for Russia's war in Ukraine, he said.
The former NSC official raised the possibility of Trump eventually traveling to North Korea or a neutral site to sign a deal with Kim, which he said would be "another made-for-TV moment" in his presidency.
"Trump will be criticized for this approach, but he should be commended for pursuing an achievable goal rather than pursuing the same negotiations strategy and expecting a different result," he said.
Ruggiero advised that Trump could restore leverage against the North Korean leader by sanctioning North Koreans operating in China and Chinese companies and individuals who are aiding Pyongyang's sanctions evasion.
Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term: the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.
Ruggiero served as the NSC director for North Korea from 2018-2019, during which he worked on Trump's "maximum pressure" policy and summits with the North Korean leader.
