SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2020) South Korea is looking for ways to implement joint cooperation projects with North Korea despite the international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang, Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, said.
The remarks were made by Lee upon his arrival in Washington where he will meet US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. The parties are going to discuss the initiative of South Korean President Moon Jae-in on resuming the inter-Korean projects, including allowing individual tours to North Korea's Mount Kumgang.
"The reason we are discussing this issue with the U.S. is that we are trying to find space within the sanctions framework agreed on by the international community," Lee said on Wednesday, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
The South Korean official added that Seoul and Washington should stabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula and revive the momentum for further negotiations.
On Tuesday, Moon said in his annual press conference that Seoul may ask for some exceptions from the UN sanctions against North Korea to expand inter-Korean cooperation.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula significantly improved in 2018 after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's talks with South Korean President Moon and US President Donald Trump. In June 2018, Kim and Trump reached an agreement, stipulating that North Korea would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the peninsula in exchange for the freezing of US-South Korean military drills and potential removal of the US sanctions. However, the negotiating process stalled last year as tensions escalated after Pyongyang's missile tests.
