South Korea is seeking a clear declaration of North Korea's plan to denuclearize when the two sides hold an historic summit this month, according to Seoul's presidential office Tuesday.
An unnamed official was cited by local news agency Yonhap as insisting that this will be different from past deals that ultimately failed to curb the North's development of nuclear weapons.
As per an agreement last week, the South's President Moon Jae-in will hold a border summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un on April 27 -- the first meeting between the countries' leaders in over a decade.
Kim is then set to take the unprecedented step of talking to an incumbent American president, with a plan to meet Donald Trump in May.
The Seoul official quoted by Yonhap said the scheduled inter-Korean talks "will directly affect the North-U.S. summit".
Another official reportedly denied that the South is pursuing what the media has referred to as a 'Libya-style solution' -- suggesting Pyongyang's regime will be wary of verifiably denuclearizing and becoming vulnerable without assurances.
North Korea has repeatedly warned against foreign intervention on the peninsula, especially given the presence of around 30,000 American military personnel.
A commentary from the North's state-run KCNA news agency Monday cautioned that "now is time to reject cooperation with foreign forces".
"The South Korean authorities' persistent behavior of supporting the U.S. scenario to stifle (North Korea) is greatly disappointing all Koreans who ardently wish to bring earlier lasting peace on the Korean peninsula and its independent reunification," the article stated.
It remains unclear how far Seoul and Washington will be prepared to undermine their local military partnership in order to appease Pyongyang.
