Chung Dong-young: “the administration has “reset the goals of its North Korea policy” by moving from a “denuclearization first” approach to…”

We must move away from the old notion that a peace regime can only be discussed after the North Korean nuclear issue is resolved ... We need to pursue a phased and pragmatic solution. It is time for a paradigm shift.

The resumption of U.S.-North Korea dialogue will serve as a powerful catalyst for opening four-party talks among the U.S., China and the two Koreas, who are the key stakeholders in achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

As the past 30 years have shown, whenever peace talks were halted by the denuclearization hurdle, North Korea used that time to further advance its nuclear capabilities.

A step-by-step process toward peaceful coexistence and denuclearization should proceed in three stages -- freeze, reduction and denuclearization.