In this file photo taken on June 11, U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un at the start of their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore. AFP=Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

Since late last year, President Moon Jae-in has tried hard to pitch his ambitious "sanctions-easing" agenda to break the impasse in talks aimed at denuclearizing North Korea.

The efforts brought mixed results. During his trip to European capitals in October, Moon attempted to win backing for the agenda from British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron, but his efforts fell flat as they didn't say anything positive about "sanctions exemptions" requested by South Korea.

But various types of inter-Korean projects are underway after the United States granted sanctions exemptions for projects such as connecting roads and railways, which were cut after the 1950-53 Korean War.

United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2397, which has been effective since December 2017, imposed import sanctions, banning items such as oil, machinery, electronic equipment, transportation equipment and base metals from export to North Korea.

Washington said it was waiting to see "concrete and detailed" steps from North Korea to move forward with the stalled denuclearization negations, while Pyongyang said it won't "unilaterally drop" the regime's nuclear programs unless the regime's security guarantee and the lifting of economic sanctions are confirmed.

Now, the big question is when and under what conditions can sanctions on North Korea be lifted? Are the U.S. imposing the Libyan model of "first denuclearize, then compensate" or is it willing to follow the "action-to-action" road that North Korea favors, lifting the sanctions step by step?

Apparently, the United States is looking for "low-cost ways" to get progress on dismantling North Korean nuclear weapons because its decision to grant sanctions exemptions on some joint inter-Korean projects was designed to incentivize North Korea to take detailed steps for denuclearization, according to political experts in Seoul.

"Sanctions on North Korea are related directly to the conditions of restoring inter-Korean economic cooperation. There is a possibility North Korea will push for step-by-step denuclearization according to the level of U.S. compensation, but it seems there is almost no possibility it will renounce the action-to-action principle. Alleviating or lifting sanctions is included in the compensation North Korea wants," said Lim Soo-ho, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS).

The researcher said the reason Washington is insisting on strict conditions for easing sanctions is because the United States sees the change in North Korea's behavior as a "policy byproduct of maximum pressure."