Anchor: Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says he hopes U.S. President Donald Trump’s leadership can help create a breakthrough in stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang. Cho stated the position at a press briefing Thursday, adding that he conveyed these sentiments to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House aides during his recent trip to Washington and they responded positively.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: Washington and Pyongyang are stuck in a dilemma between denuclearization and nuclear disarmament.
 
With the two sides failing to find a new starting point, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says Seoul is looking to U.S. President Donald Trump to find a breakthrough.

[Sound bite: Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (Korean-English)]  
“I would say that we look forward to something being done under President Trump’s leadership. North Korea will press [the U.S.] to accept that it possesses nuclear weapons if they hold talks, but the U.S. maintains that North Korea cannot possess nuclear weapons. Thus, I think some push and pull will be necessary.”

Seoul’s top diplomat on Thursday held his first news conference after taking office, addressing pending foreign policy issues leading up to the APEC summit in South Korea in late October. 

If Trump breaks the current impasse with Pyongyang, that might lead to another U.S.-North Korea summit, which Seoul floated last month.  

[Sound bite: Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (Korean-English)]  
“I cannot discuss a hypothetical situation regarding U.S.-North Korea summit talks at APEC. We cannot make policies based on hopes. That is bound to fail. But I would like to add that we should not give up hope.”

Cho said officials from Seoul and Washington are closely consulting on ways to end the stalemate. 

But that is not the only goal for officials coordinating the Seoul-Washington summit later this month, as Trump is seeking ways to reset the terms of its alliance with South Korea. 

[Sound bite: Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (Korean-English)]  
“The issues you’ve mentioned, such as strategic flexibility and the modernization of the alliance, are being closely coordinated and negotiated at the working level before the summit. ... We are seeking to expand the South Korea-U.S. alliance into a technological alliance encompassing atomic energy, shipbuilding, AI, quantum [computing] and biotechnology, and build a future-oriented comprehensive alliance. This is how we can effectively harness the ROK-U.S. alliance in the face of various challenges in the international order. We are arranging the talks in that direction.” 

With the U.S. building a greater coalition to effectively handle challenges posed by emerging China, Cho acknowledged that there are fundamental differences between Seoul and Beijing but said the two neighbors should work to overcome that gap.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.