Associate Prof. Ri Pyong Hwi of the Korea University, an educational institution run by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), asserted at a news conference held at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on April 23 that the U.S.-DPRK summit to be held by early June “needs to reach a comprehensive agreement on permanent peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.”

Ri explained that his remarks were not coordinated with the North Korean authorities and that what he said was “based on the speeches and other statements (of Workers’ Party of Korea Chairman Kim Jong Un) so far.”

He stressed that replacing the Korean Armistice Agreement with a peace agreement and “complete elimination of the hostile U.S.-DPRK relationship through the normalization of diplomatic relations” will be necessary for North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal. He further asserted that the agreement to be reached at the summit meeting should be based on the “principle of action for action.” He said: “If President Trump wants to demand denuclearization by 2020 (the end of his term of office), the U.S. will have to take greater steps (to compromise).”