US military intellectual urges Trump to reciprocate Korean Peninsula de-escalation

DENVER, the United States - A leading US military academic Tuesday called on the Trump Administration to step up to the plate and "keep the momentum going" with talks that could pull nuclear weapons out of the Korean Peninsula.

"This is a major breakthrough," Lyle Goldstein of the US Naval War College told Xinhua about the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un's pledge to immediately freeze missile and nuclear weapons testing during proposed talks with the United States and the Republic of Korea.

ROK national security adviser Chung Eui-yong hammered out the talks and a summit next month between the two Koreas during a four-hour dinner with Kim, his wife and other senior DPRK officials.

The top national security adviser for ROK President Moon Jae-in led a 10-member special delegation to visit Pyongyang for two days from Monday.

The two sides agreed to hold the third inter-Korean summit talks in late April. The first and second inter-Korean summit meetings were held in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007 respectively.

Goldstein urged US officials to address the DPRK's "security needs," not to exclude a "symbolic withdrawal of some US troops," as a move that might bring both sides closer to detente.

"You must give in order to receive," Goldstein said, citing the recent Iran talks failing because Tehran perceived it was getting nothing in return.

Goldstein also said the involvement of China and Russia might help the challenging negotiations that lie ahead, criticizing Japan's seeming lack of interest.

The ROK and the DPRK also agreed to set up a hotline between the leaders to ease military tensions and closely coordinate. The first talks through the hotline will be held before the summit scheduled for late April.