President Moon has ordered a thorough investigation into the unreported delivery of part of the THAAD elements, vowing to follow a democratic procedure in any further deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system in his homeland, including the green audit.
To find any solution to the THAAD issue, the lawmaker said, the Moon government would need time as any solution can be found only after figuring out why the THAAD deployment was hurriedly pushed by the previous government.
"It was not an acceleration (of the deployment), but a high-speed accident. A top priority must be placed first on coming to the bedrock of the accident. And then, any solution can be found," said Kim.
Touching on the U.S.-South Korea summit meeting in Washington last week, Kim said it was "very good" in relations between the two countries from the "abstract" perspective though details on how to deal with sensitive issues have yet to be agreed upon.
President Moon visited Washington to hold his first summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump for two days from Thursday. The two leaders took the opportunity to establish a personal bond and build trust through the meeting, Kim said.
According to the joint statement released after the meeting, President Trump supported South Korea's "leading role" in fostering an environment for peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
The leading role, the lawmaker said, indicated the new South Korean government's intention to push for dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) separately from the dialogue between the United States and the DPRK.
The talks between Moon and Trump were meaningful as the U.S. side guaranteed an active role South Korea could play in turning the phase of sanctions and pressures toward the DPRK into a dialogue phase, the lawmaker said.
He said the principle of action in return for action, which President Moon mentioned, would be desirable to approach the DPRK's nuclear issue, noting that if Pyongyang freezes its nuclear program, South Korea can take corresponding measures such as the scaling down of the U.S.-South Korea joint war games and the U.S. strategic assets mobilization.
Kim said the strategy of sanctions and pressures on the DPRK failed as it lacked diplomacy and dialogue. Following the sanctions-oriented strategy, dialogue should have ensued to make it successful, he noted.
To open a dialogue phase on the Korean Peninsula, Kim said, the six-party talks should be restored and the dialogue platform should be developed into a multilateral one to discuss regional security issues.
The six-party talks which involves the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, have been suspended since late 2008.
"The six-party talks should be restored to freeze North Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program through negotiations. The talks should be developed, in the end, into a multilateral platform to discuss security issues and strengthen security cooperation in Northeast Asia," added Kim.
