US diplomat: North Korea denuclearization high priority for Trump admin

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. diplomat said Thursday that North Korea's denuclearization is "very high up" on the Trump administration's policy priority list, as Pyongyang continues to resist international calls for it to forgo nuclear weapons, calling them its "core interests."

David Wilezol, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan, Korea and Mongolia, made the remarks during a forum amid questions over whether North Korea would be willing to pivot toward denuclearization given that it seeks to accelerate its nuclear buildup at an "exponential rate" and insists that its nuclear status is "irreversible."

The diplomat also noted that for now, Washington will rely "very heavily" on the U.S. military's opinion about the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea, as the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pushes to retake it before its term ends in 2030.

"With regard to North Korea, I think (its denuclearization) is very high up on the priority list," he said during the forum hosted by the TriForum, a nonprofit organization that seeks to enhance trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan.

"I am not going to get into a ranking game, but certainly the conversations about North Korea that occur in any presidential administration, and certainly in ours, revolve around denuclearization," he added.

Wilezol pointed out that during last month's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to North Korea's denuclearization, and that the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries also did so during their summit in France this week.

Hours earlier, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, criticized the G7 leaders' statement reaffirming their commitment to the North's denuclearization, saying that denuclearization is a "line of no retreat that can never be crossed."

The U.S. diplomat reiterated Washington's openness to reengaging with North Korea.

"We've been very clear that if Chairman Kim is ready to talk, the Trump administration is ready to have those conversations. That's our posture right now," he said.

But he underscored that Washington will continue to sustain "peace through strength" through efforts, including enforcing sanctions, working with countries to tackle North Korea's cyber threats, cryptocurrency thefts and other things to deprive the regime of its revenue.

On the OPCON transfer issue, Wilezol echoed the remarks by Robert O'Brien, national security advisor during the first Trump administration, that the transition efforts must proceed "thoughtfully and carefully" so that any differences between the allies cannot be exploited by potential adversaries. O'Brien was also at the forum.

"I am confident that ultimately, we are going to get there in terms of the final portrait of what the OPCON transfer looks like," he said.

"In the meantime, we are going to rely very heavily on the opinion of our military because who else knows better about the operational realities on the ground than our men and women in uniform?"

His comment came as Seoul hopes to retake wartime OPCON at an early date, possibly before the end of 2028, though U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson has told a House hearing that the two allies aim to meet the conditions by no later than the first quarter of 2029.

South Korea handed over operational control of its troops to the U.S.-led U.N. Command during the 1950-53 Korean War. It was then transferred to the allies' Combined Forces Command when the command was launched in 1978. Seoul retook peacetime OPCON in 1994, but wartime OPCON still remains in the U.S.' hands.

Commenting on South Korea's business environment for U.S. firms, Wilezol said that there is "more work to do on what we perceive as sometimes discriminatory treatment of American firms," but he stressed that the Seoul-Washington relationship is "very very strong."

He was apparently referring to the case of e-commerce giant Coupang Inc, which came under government, parliamentary and public scrutiny following a massive data leak in South Korea.

"You are not going to see 100 percent perfection across the board, but this is why we are blessed to have allies because we know the relationship has a foundation of strength and trust and friendship," he said, commenting on the overall state-to-state relationship.

"So when we have irritants that crop up in the relationship, we are going to continue to work at it and not just have a divorce over different things."