 Okay, I think we are live now, and it's a pleasure to be with you. I'm Medea Benjamin from Code Pink, and we are having a conversation with Simone Chun, who just returned from South Korea and is going to give us an update on the situation on the Peninsula and with U.S. relations. Good evening, Simone. Hey, how are you? Great. Good to be with you. Oh, nice to be back. So there's a lot to talk about, and perhaps we should start out with the coincidence that just before the North and South begin their third round of talks tomorrow, the U.S. via Nikki Haley at the UN called the meeting of the Security Council to talk about Russian violations and other violations of the sanctions on North Korea. So could you talk a little bit about the backdrop for the North-South meetings tomorrow? First, I want to say that, you know, this is an extraordinary, not extraordinary historic moment that you and I and also all of us who are following Korean peace process are witnessing. So two Koreas having the third inter-Korean summit this year. As President Moon Jae-in tweeted several hours ago, this is what he said. He said that, you know, this is truly a historic moment. Within just five months, we're having third summit and also if you look at the kind of preparations, excitement that Koreans have, which you don't really see in the U.S. media. And as you pointed out, I mean, what a coincidence and also very shame on, I would say, Nikki Haley, you know, on the day that the two Koreas having another major summit, they have to call the urgent UN Security Council meeting on the violation, alleged violation of a sanction by, in this case, they were pointing finger at Russia. So there's the point which sees that, again, there's such a huge gap between what Koreans see, right? Both Koreas see the peace process and the U.S. security elite and also U.S. mainstream media sees the peace process. So as you just pointed out, I just returned from my visit to Korea. And I mean, you will really have to see Koreans, again, this approval support for the inter-Korean process is very strong. And for this summit we are having this week, the Korean government came up with the new slogan that is peace, a new future. So they also have a new English website for this two, three-day summit. And they are having the delegation involved about 200 members. These are people coming from South Korea, too. From South Korea. So we have a 200-member delegation. Official delegations are 14, including President Moon and all his cabinet members, all major party leaders. President Moon included the leaders of the two labor confederation, right? And there's artists, there are writers, basically this is sort of reflect the consensus, right? And before you go further, Simone, have all three of these summits always been in the North? No, all three this summit, as you know, this year, the summit has been, we were in the Parmandum, right? And also the border. And so in a way, your question is good, because this will be the first time that the summit has been held actually in Pyongyang, North Korea. And the president is, they're taking, you know, they're going to Pyongyang by plane. And it's only one hour, you know, flight. And as I pointed out, and this is President Moon, it's trying to really show, include as a broad member of the population possible. And I will read some of the statement that made by people who are participating in the delegation. Moon Jung-in, the president's special advisor to President Moon, and he said, you know, he's very clear, he said, inter-Korean relationship cannot be a byproduct of a U.S. North Korean relationship. So what it means that whenever he argued that you whenever maybe there are some problem with the U.S. North Korean negotiations, the Professor Moon Jung-in argued that, you know, you South Korea should serve as sort of a negotiator. There's a mayor of Seoul, he says, I'm very happy to be able to accompany the historic inter-Korean summit, a former, the former unification minister, Jung Se-young, he says that the upcoming inter-Korean summit will be, in his view, be followed by ending the Korean war and a peaceful unified regime. So but at the same time, he also alerted that there's going to be massive, very strong opposition against this path. So people who, you know, prefer the status quo. So he was arguing that we should not, people should not be swayed by, you know, those opposition and also that opposition within South Korea or from the U.S. or what? I think he was referring to both, very right-wing still, you know, there's very serious established interest within South Korea, who has been basically sustained by divided Korea and also the opposition within and from the United States. Again, going back to this, this special, very exciting delegation, we have also included, this will be very interesting to our young activists. President Moon included two youth members. One is a junior high school female student. So she was chosen, yeah, she was, this girl was chosen because she wrote a personal letter to President Moon saying that how she was so moved by her grandfathers, right? Her grandfathers meeting his brother in North Korea during the last of a reunion. Oh, how sweet. Yeah. And then he looked at the grandfathers. Oh, my God, they brought, you know, they were obviously brothers. They, you know, and she said she wrote this personal letter to President Moon. And he says, you know, I really would like to devote, you know, contributed for the reunification and she wanted to be a pediatrician so that she can later to take care of kids in North Korea, who are right now suffering from. And also, there's another president also chose this 20-year-old female student from Sunmi Young Women's College. And she has been, you know, she has been volunteering to covering the last summit through her mobile phone, right? She became very popular and she said she was, she's a Chinese studies major. So she also would like to. So basically she wants to be sort of a, you know, tell the youth, you know, young people in Korea, you know, who's maybe not, not so much sort of because their own personal, you know, economic difficulties, et cetera. They're not, not be so interested in this reunification issue. But she, as a young generation, she would like to appeal to that. But anyway, to go back to the, to the story of today's historic moment and to Korea, as far as I can tell you, which again, I don't hear much about US media. We are so excited. We're so energized. We're so determined. And as you and I, you know, saw, you remember, Pistrate, right? That has left us a few months ago and still we feel that it is on track. So, so, but still, that's why, as I pointed out, as you pointed out in the very beginning, it is such disappointment that, you know, Nikki Haley come out of this sort of urgent meeting on the day that South Korea is celebrating and trying to get things moving. Well, it's also very confusing because Nikki Haley represents Donald Trump and Donald Trump wants the peace process to go forward. Exactly. How do you see the the nuances or even disagreements internally in the administration? What is going on that Nikki Haley would try to throw a monkey wrench in the process right before the two Koreas get together? You know, that is still, for me, it's hard to speculate. What is the internal dynamics? What they might justify saying they want, you know, we're playing, you know, good cup and bad cup, you know? Trump always says between Trump and Chairman Kim, they always sort of try to, you know, publicly these days, unlike last year, trying to praise each other, you know, they still have a good chemistry, etc. But Nikki Haley, probably my she think that, oh, you know, I'm so tough, you know, I'm going to bad cup. So sanctions work, you know, we should have maximum pressure. Maybe they're that's what their justification. But to me, I find it a little bit interesting that they are really going after not so much North Korea. Have you seen that, right? They're going after China and Russia. Yeah. Yeah. So it seems to me that there are many, it's also it seems to be there sort of an ongoing, this sort of conflict problem with the, between Russia and China, Russian-United States relations and Russia-China, China-United States relations. And with even the China and US-China, this all to trade dispute. And some analysts are arguing that, you know, China is basically, China is, you know, using North Korea as a strike to kind of get some leverage in this US-China trade dispute. But that's a little bit going on tandem. But still, I think that it seems to me that to me, it's the fact that the United States is going after more Russian and China shows that a broadly sanctions, not really working, right, not effective. And also, you know, Putin, as you recall, he, you know, clearly he said that he doesn't support sanctions. He think it's ineffective. So we know that Russia does not really believe in, right, in the utility of a sanction. Although they can pass them at the security council, they didn't agree to them. Yeah. So their point that they still, I think is probably their point. I'm still is that still, although they're part of a member of a security council, still they think probably think they secure council more, you know, influenced by the United States. And well, yes. And they also probably say that since Donald Trump is on a track of diplomacy, why should there be these draconian sanctions that are hurting the ordinary North Korean people? And going back to the summit that's happening, starting starting tomorrow or in a few hours in Korea time, let's talk about some of the concrete things that are happening or that we might be able to see out of that summit. And isn't North Korea and South Korea, aren't they anxious for more trade relations, but isn't this hampered by the sanctions that don't allow such trade? Specifically, before I answered that, just that question, we should also point out two important thing. One, again, people can compare the current summit with the previous one, but it's a very difficult. Even the summit taking place today is very different from all the other sun because we are under the harshest, you know, economic sanctions, right? And secondly, it's very particular, but the importance of this third summit is that looks like there's a good chance, really, Chairman Kim and President Moon might discuss more in detail about denuclearization plan, denuclearization process. Now, I'm saying this because in the past, the position of South Korea has been that the denuclearization talk between is just between US and North Korea, right? And so we are going to only, you know, focus on inter-Korean relationship. So that has been the more sort of official position of South Korea. But reports that I'm reading is that this time President Moon looks like it's going to be really actually addressed that or more substantive discussion with the Chairman Kim about the nuclearization process. And that's because he wants to make sure that the US, North Korea talks keep going forward. Exactly. So she would like to stepping stone, right? So with this, so it's still, so we are really probably will see more concrete timetable from Chairman Kim. We may even be surprised, maybe by some more greater concessions or commitment from North Korea. And I also feel that, I mean, this is without giving any evidence or proof, we may already see there has been already agreement between two Koreas and also maybe has been already discussed by at least President Trump. So this is just my own guessing. So I think that I'm pretty positive about maybe 60, 70 percent. I think there will be some substantive result specifically about the nuclearization process. Yeah, go ahead. But this issue of denuclearization is not the number one issue for South Korea. And it's not for North. A peace treaty is more important for them. So where do we stand on that that chicken and egg thing of what comes first, the peace treaty or denuclearization? Has there been any movement on that? Yes. So as you recall, I said in the right now, if you look, if you ask me, what is the status of US-DPI North Korea negotiation? The answer is it has been solved. You recall the cancellation of Pompeii's visit to Pyongyang a few weeks ago, right? That was what I heard was specifically North Korea was demanding, you know, the first improving US-DPI relationship, specifically ending hostility. And to be more specifically, you know, the signing that the political declaration, right, to end the Korean War, which United States, from the United States, we all know a complete denuclearization first. And then, as we were, we'll lift economic sanctions. We will, you know, and then maybe eventually a peace treaty. So those are the two. And so and still, I think, if you look at it, though, about the signing, the political declaration and Korean War, there is a good chance, first of all, both Koreas agree and support that agree, the declaration. In fact, President Moon says that this is going to be the goal. Before the peace declaration. Yeah, he said before the end of 2018, he's going to sign it. Looks like the reports also just China also is supporting the ending Korean War declaration. And so if that is so, at this point, and then North Korea, the more very proactive commitment specifically timetable given timetable for denuclearization and also willing to provide the list of their nuclear programs, facilities and, as you know, that we got they going to there's a U.N. general meeting is taking will taking place soon. So at that point, you know, President Moon, I think there's already bilateral summit between President Moon and President Trump is already scheduled and President Moon. But is Chairman Kim Jong-un going to the U.N. meeting? That we that we're not sure. So I think this may be another sort of a surprise at the end of the summit. Maybe we'll hear that, you know, Chairman Kim may, you know, news about Chairman Kim's coming to attend the General Assembly, but which I'm not quite sure it's going to happen. But still, we will know more about it. But going back to your question about the, you know, anticipating the summit result at the bottom line is probably we will definitely hear more substantive discussion about the tenured polarization process. And has there been any new motions about well, only about more of the U.S. remains being sent back? Last I heard it was only 50. And what about the reunification? How many families and is that continuing? And things like the K-Song economic zone? Any any updates on those things? Those things, I think those, I think they're going to they definitely going to probably discuss more about that. And about the most important, the interesting about is the reopening of a K-Song industrial park. As you know, the Korea to Korea just opened the liaison office right in K-Song, which is also very exciting news. You know, this is the first time that South Korea has a permanent sort of liaison office in North Korea. And so you see the headlines that 24 hours, 365 days now to Korea is going to communicate before we just you can use the bullhorn or you communicate through North Korea shooting, you know, missiles or anyway. So this is very significant. And it was so exciting to there was, you know, you saw this, obviously, you know, all these people leaders from both Korea as they're attending. And I was reading the the the the statement from one of the National Assembly member from Korea. He said, my heart's beating with excitement. And this is the first time South Korea opened a permanent office on North Korea soil. And and and and also what another thing we should also point out is again, this is, you know, to Korea, you remember, they hold the military talks and really they have done a lot of, you know, agreed a lot of measures to ease the tension between and between two Koreas. And for instance, they if you look at the report to Korea, agree some military de-escalation measures, including a plan to demilitarize the joint security area and continuing joint recovery operation of a war debt in DMZ, where you and I have been. And also the about the U.S. remains which retrieve a repatriation of a U.S. Am I U.S. soldiers missing in action? They still I think they're on on a track. And but problem here is again, the sold U.S. North Korean relationship has sort of a, you know, has stopped some of these talks. Well, the talk in the U.S. side is that North Korea is violating the spirit because there's not an agreement really to violate by continuing with its nuclear activities and that it hasn't done anything to hand in even the basic information about its nuclear program and that the Trump administration has given in concessions and North Korea hasn't. As far as I know, the only concession the U.S. has given is to temporarily halt the military exercises that the U.S. does with South Korea. Is there something that I'm missing here? No, you're not missing. Actually, you know, the present moon he even pointed out in the meeting that he had with the elders of the visors. And actually, I even I kind of was a little surprised to to, you know, to read the present moon's dynamic. He said he said that North Korea has done, in his mind, at least four irreversible steps towards denuclearization. You know, demolishing the facility that used for all of their nuclear six nuclear tests, right? It's gone forever and also demolishing that building at the Soviet satellite launch station, right? Which basically means that North Korea is saying that we no longer can threaten the United States with our ICBM. So it's permanent irreversible measures, et cetera. And whereas, this is again, present moon, he says, United States is the only one that is suspending the war game, right? So so what he's again, he's so you are right. The United States has not really really has done only really one thing. And it seems to me, you know, it's like so Kim Jong-un, even President Chairman Kim also sort of expressed that this content, he thought that as far as he concerned, he has been really, you know, really he did the best to at least implement the respect of the Singapore summit. So when the present moon's special envoy to to North Korea a few two weeks ago, a parent from Chairman Kim said, you know, like, you know, how come the world is not so impressed by all of them? You know, things that I have done. And so I think that's from North Korea is a point of view. So I think a lot of I think perhaps some of us share his concern as well, including President Moon, so we share his reciprocity. And and for I think it's time, you know, we have the same for all this time. It's really time for the United States to give something to show commitment. You know, Singapore, as you recall, the Singapore summit agreement, right? The very first thing was what improved the U.S.-North Korean relationship. And the uniclosation was a third, not the first, right? So as far as the North Korea, that's what it is doing. Like the confidence building has all these matters. This suggestion from Chairman Kim that he meet with Trump again, has there been any movement on that? And do you think there will be a meeting before the November elections? I think there's a good chance that there will be another meeting. And then if that, I think this all again depends on, in my view, how well this this third into Korean summit goes. And progress on the denuclearization issue between the Koreas that might pave the way for another summit. Exactly. You see, that has been the pattern. Do you remember last time when the first thing up right before, right? The Singapore summit was sort of almost about to be canceled. You remember you and I were in Seoul, right? Oh, my God, it was like really, we were so disappointed that I really, at the time when I heard the news, when Trump was, you know, was threatening to cancel the summit, I was 99 percent. I was sure, oh, my God, this is gone. This is not going to act else. I feel devastated. And so at the time, you remember, while we were at, you know, we were protesting and apparently the second inter-Korean summit was halt. We didn't even know, right? And so I think what I'm trying to say is that still the pattern here, the very, very new pattern about the current peace process is that, again, South Korea is not in the back seat, right? South Korea, especially President Moon, has been really driving force of this current peace process. North Korea may not, you know, trust the United States. United States may not trust, what, North Korea, but both mine, I think they kind of trust President Moon. And President Moon has, you know, cultivated. I think he created, I think he created this credibility. So that's one country that has been very negative about this whole process has been Japan. And yet recently we heard that the Japanese President Abe was interested in meeting with the North Korean chairman. And what did you make of that? And do you think that might happen? Is that a good development? I hope so. I crossed my fingers. I pray. I think one thing, you know, Japan, as you know, Japan, South Korea has a very long relationship. Not all of them are very, you know, good one, happy one. And I think Abe's position is that, as he can see that, as we said, peace train is already leaving and also kind of, you know, Japan doesn't want to be left out, right? And I think that's that's my first intake. But on the other hand, we should really, really think about how Japan, the big picture, that is, Japan has been really under Abe's writing policy. He has really restoring this all the sort of militaristic, you know, sort of a policy, right? So I will be so much, you know, cautious about the sudden sort of gesture from Abe. And but still, it's a good thing that, you know, they should meet. So in the remaining minutes we have, perhaps you could give people ideas of what they could do, including connecting with women across the DMZ. And how can they learn more about that initiative? Yes, there is one. We, our South Korean civic organization delegation is coming to actually to attend UN general meeting, specifically to promote signing the Ending Korean World Declaration. So there's a petition going and I hope that I would happy to share the link with in the Facebook. I hope that people can sign on. Another thing is really, you know, I cannot emphasize strongly enough and we really counting on really ordinary American voice support and especially, you know, with elections coming, right? And I hope that this election, November election, I hope that people, you know, have more interest in the Korean peace process and this peace process was, you know, happening specifically because of Korea's a candlelight revolution that really changed, completely transformed the politics and ended the authoritarian regime. And so in the election, I hope that we, you know, your contact, your local senators and the candidates, the members of Congress and tell them that, you know, and the Korean war and economic sanctions, sanctions are not tools of diplomacy, sanctions kill innocent children and the most vulnerable people in North Korea doesn't benefit anybody. And lastly, also, we really wanted to, you know, be really that even if you don't like President Trump, please, you know, we love peace, right? More than we dislike as you, you know, one said we dislike Donald Trump. And we need Koreans need, you know, all the support that we can. And this is very, very, I would say, in fact, the most important, I would say time period in the history of peace process in the Korean Peninsula. We need this literally between now and November. I think that we can make a huge difference. And if people want to learn more about women cross the DMZ, where do they go? Yeah, we will, I will link to the, I'll be happy to include the link to the women cross DMZ and also our other petition about the assigning the ending Korean War Declaration. And why don't I include that in the, I will, you know, put in the Facebook. Wonderful. And you can go to womencrossdmz.org. And Simone, thank you so much for giving us a wonderful update on the situation. People watching should look out what the results are of the North South Summit that will be going on for the next three days and will be very critical in terms of not only the relations of the North and South, but whether the peace process with the US will move forward. So thank you so much for the great update. And we look forward to future webinars with you. Thank you. Peace. Peace. Bye bye. Bye.