SEOUL, June 19 (AJP) -The Trump administration places North Korea's denuclearization high on its foreign policy agenda and remains open to dialogue with Pyongyang, while signaling that any transfer of wartime operational control to South Korea will proceed cautiously and under military guidance, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.
David Wilezol, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan, Korea and Mongolia, made the remarks during a Korea-U.S. Strategic Industries and Security Forum hosted by TriForum in Washington, amid questions over whether Pyongyang would ever return to denuclearization talks as it accelerates its nuclear weapons program.
"I'm not going to get into a ranking game, but certainly the conversations about North Korea that occur in any presidential administration, and certainly in ours, revolve around denuclearization."
His comments came hours after Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rejected a recent G7 statement reaffirming North Korea's denuclearization, calling it a "line of no retreat that can never be crossed."
Wilezol pointed to recent diplomatic statements as evidence that denuclearization remains a shared international objective.
He noted that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping reaffirmed their commitment to North Korea's denuclearization during last month's summit and that G7 leaders reiterated the same position during their meeting in France this week.
He also emphasized close coordination with Seoul and Tokyo.
"We maintain very close cooperation bilaterally with South Korea and trilaterally with Japan," he said. "However that effort unfolds, denuclearization remains a priority for us."
The diplomat reiterated Washington's openness to reengaging with Pyongyang.
"We've been very clear that if Chairman Kim is ready to talk, the Trump administration is ready to have those conversations," he said.
At the same time, he stressed that the administration would continue pursuing its "peace through strength" strategy by enforcing sanctions and working with allies to cut off North Korea's illicit revenue streams.
That includes combating cyberattacks, overseas IT worker operations and cryptocurrency thefts linked to the North Korean regime.
"We will continue to deprive the regime of sources of revenue and draw a clear line against behavior that the United States and our allies cannot tolerate," he said.
On the issue of transferring wartime operational control, or OPCON, to South Korea, Wilezol said Washington would rely heavily on military assessments as Seoul seeks to retake control before the end of President Lee Jae Myung's term in 2030.
"I am confident that ultimately we are going to get there in terms of the final portrait of what the OPCON transfer looks like," he said.
"In the meantime, we are going to rely very heavily on the opinion of our military because who else knows better about the operational realities on the ground than our men and women in uniform?"
His remarks echoed those of Robert O'Brien, who served as national security adviser during Trump's first term and also participated in the forum.
O'Brien welcomed Seoul's desire to accelerate the timeline but cautioned against allowing political considerations to dictate the process.
"It is a positive signal that South Korea wants to move up the timeline because it shows South Korea is willing to take on a greater share of the security burden," he said.
"But a rushed transition is not a good transition, and it does not enhance security." "It has to be a professional military transition, not one driven by political timelines or political pressure."
He added that the allies must avoid creating vulnerabilities that could be exploited by China, North Korea, Russia or other adversaries.
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