ROK Foreign Minister Says South Korea May Drop Sanctions on North Korea

I still can’t think of one thing the Kim regime has done to really denuclearize or even pose less of a threat to the ROK.  The North Korean artillery and troops are still forward deployed on the DMZ.  Why doesn’t the Moon administration at least demand they withdraw North Korean troops 50 kilometers north of the DMZ for example before considering dropping sanctions?:

South Korea is reviewing whether to lift its sanctions against North Korea, Seoul’s top diplomat said Wednesday, amid a summit-driven reconciliatory mood.

“A review (of the issue) is under way” in consultation with other related government agencies, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit of the ministry. She did not elaborate.

The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, is in charge of the issue.

Kang was responding to a question about whether the government is willing to lift the sanctions, called the May 24 Measure, imposed after the North’s deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in 2010.

The previous conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak introduced the sanctions to prevent almost all inter-Korean ties except for humanitarian assistance.

Despite some cross-border exchanges this year, the main elements of the sanctions, such as a ban on trade and investment, remain valid, overlapping with the U.N.-led punishments of Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.

Kang indicated that the government is considering the removal of the May 24 Measure largely as a symbolic step meant to help improve the Seoul-Pyongyang relations.

“It’s an important executive order. (We) have constantly reviewed it,” she pointed out. “As there are many (bilateral) sanctions overlapping the U.N. ones, it won’t necessarily mean the substantive lifting (of sanctions on the North).”  [Yonhap]

The dropping of the sanctions by the ROK just further signals to other countries that it is okay to trade with North Korea.  We already see various countries helping North Korea cheat on sanctions and South Korea is just giving them further reason why it is okay to cheat.