On Monday 19 March, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini reiterated the EU's readiness to support the ongoing efforts to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
"As the EU, we are ready to do our share in this process, by collaborating with you – the Republic of Korea – and with other key partners, especially the USA, Japan, China and Russia", she said at a press conference with the Korean minister for foreign affairs, Kang Kyung-wha. Mogherini underlined that the EU strongly supported Seoul's "policy and high level diplomatic initiatives" and shared its point of view that "pressure and dialogues leading to negotiations should go hand in hand".
Kang Kyung-wha hailed the cooperation between her country and the EU, saying that the EU's critical engagement with North Korea went hand in hand with the South Korean policy.
Mogherini stated that the commitments taken by North Korea to engage in negotiations on denuclearisation and to refrain from going ahead with trials during these negotiations "could create the necessary conditions for a negotiated solution". In her view, the meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas, which is scheduled for April, "could encourage the necessary trust, defuse the tension and improve inter-Korean relations".
Mogherini wanted to appear optimistic, saying that "in the months to come, we will have a rare chance to bring peace to reign in the Korean peninsula". "This is an opportunity that we believe we must not let slip", she added.
Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders meanwhile expressed more caution. "The difficulty is that we need to know the credibility of the message of the search for dialogue" from Pyongyang, he said, adding that although the EU could be useful, there were also actors on the ground in the region. He furthermore said he favoured maintaining sanctions "until implementation of concrete elements of an agreement on denuclearisation". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with Mathieu Solal).