1 of 2 | Yang Moo-jin, chair professor and former president of the University of North Korean Studies, speaks at the Seventh Korean Peninsula Peace Symposium at the National Assembly Library in Seoul on Aug. 27, 2026. Photo by Hyojoon Jeon/ UPI
Aug. 28 (UPI) — As U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to revive diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean experts gathered at the National Assembly on Thursday to debate whether a phased approach to denuclearization and an eventual peace agreement could break years of deadlock on the Korean Peninsula.
The Seventh Korean Peninsula Peace Symposium, held at the main auditorium of the National Assembly Library in Seoul, was jointly hosted by the offices of lawmakers Lee In-young and Huh Young and the K-Peace and Unification Alliance. Lee, a former unification minister, is among the governing-party figures who have championed dialogue with Pyongyang.
The discussions came amid renewed diplomatic movement from Washington and Seoul but little indication that Pyongyang is prepared to reciprocate.
Trump said last week that he expects to meet Kim this year, days after ordering a substantial reduction in the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise between the United States and South Korea.
North Korea dismissed the move. Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister, said Pyongyang had “no interest” in the reduction and argued that the underlying nature of U.S. policy toward North Korea had not changed.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, meanwhile, used his Aug. 15 Liberation Day address to propose talks – involving the two Koreas and the United States, or those three plus China – aimed at formally ending the Korean War and replacing the armistice with a peace regime.
Lee called for the two Koreas to reduce hostility and establish safeguards against crises and escalation. He said such a process could also create an opportunity to discuss “effective measures” to halt further advances in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
Against that backdrop, Yang Moo-jin, chair professor and former president of the University of North Korean Studies, told Thursday’s symposium that Seoul should pursue a gradual, institutionalized process rather than expect an immediate breakthrough on denuclearization or reunification.
Yang said negotiations could proceed in stages, linking steps toward nuclear restraint and denuclearization with normalization of relations, sanctions relief and establishment of a peace regime.
His proposal places an initial emphasis on stopping further expansion of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities while retaining denuclearization as a longer-term objective.
Seoul and Washington continue to describe resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue as a shared goal. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed in an Aug. 24 phone call to maintain close coordination on peace on the peninsula and the North Korean nuclear issue. The State Department’s public readout of the call did not mention denuclearization, though Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the shared goal remained unchanged.
Asked by UPI after the symposium what would prevent a nuclear freeze from becoming an endpoint that effectively leaves North Korea permanently armed with nuclear weapons, Yang acknowledged the difficulty of providing such guarantees amid deep mistrust.
He said progress instead would have to be verified at each stage, with steps involving North Korea’s nuclear program matched by progress on normalization, sanctions relief and peace-building measures.
The question has taken on new urgency as Trump pushes for another meeting with Kim.
Trump and Kim met three times during Trump’s first term, including summits in Singapore and Hanoi and a meeting at the Demilitarized Zone. The diplomacy, however, failed to produce a lasting agreement limiting or dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program.
Trump said Aug. 19 that he expects to meet Kim again this year but offered no timetable or agenda.
Pyongyang has so far given little public indication that it intends to return to negotiations.
Kim Jong Un made no mention of Trump’s overtures during an enlarged Workers’ Party Politburo meeting earlier this week, focusing instead on economic policy.
North Korea is also entering any potential new round of diplomacy under different circumstances than during Trump’s first term. Its nuclear arsenal has expanded and Pyongyang has strengthened its economic and military ties with Russia while maintaining its relationship with China.
Those changes have sharpened questions over what another leader-level summit could realistically achieve.
David Maxwell, executive director of the Korea Regional Review, argued in a UPI commentary last week that securing another Trump-Kim summit should not itself become the objective of U.S. policy.
Maxwell said a meeting should instead advance a clearly defined South Korea-U.S. political strategy, with success measured by whether it reduces military threats, constrains North Korea’s nuclear program and leads to sustained negotiations.
Other speakers Thursday focused on practical steps to reduce the risk of conflict along the inter-Korean border.
Former Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk discussed the growing militarization of the border and called for measures to prevent local incidents from escalating, including efforts to restore elements of the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement and pursue broader discussions on a peace regime.
Kim Seung-ho, director of the DMZ Ecology Research Institute, argued that the Demilitarized Zone should also be viewed as an ecological asset and a potential space for inter-Korean cooperation rather than solely as a military frontier.
The discussions highlighted a central challenge facing Seoul as the possibility of renewed Trump-Kim diplomacy re-emerges: whether incremental measures can reduce nuclear and military risks while creating momentum for a broader settlement, or whether temporary arrangements such as a nuclear freeze could ultimately solidify North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state.