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Hopes have been revived for a seismic development in the Korean Peninsula as South Korean President Moon Jae-in heads to Pyongyang this week at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un for their third meeting this year to plow the grounds towards a lasting peace and denuclearization agenda.

Moon is accompanied by the chiefs of top South Korean household names - Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK, and Posco - as well as state lenders and IT enterprises - for his three-day visit to North Korea as the third South Korean leader to set foot on the North Korean capital to highlight the economic returns North Korea could reap and progress the two Koreas can achieve in an environment free of dangers from nuclear weapons and war threat.

Seoul officials would be pitching hard to save the hard-won momentum to set the peninsula towards peace regimen within the year and get denuclearization talks with the United States back on track against the backdrop of stalled progress since the landmark meetings between the two Korean leaders in April and between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in June.

In a sudden development after a three-month impasse, Pyongyang invited Moon and sent a letter to Trump for a second meeting to work towards keeping up the dialogue and denuclearization momentum.

But even with another breakthrough from renewed summitries, denuclearization pace and rewarding phased easing in sanctions could be a lengthy process. Without lifting in U.S.-led international sanctions and guarantee on security for the investors as well as their businesses, few would likely to jump into the highly risky market regardless of its immense appeal as an untouched territory.

Skepticism has hampered specific actions in the South to ready inroads into the North despite the passionate will of the South Korean president to improve inter-Korean relationship and equally heated interest from the business field.

Businesses and legal experts recently held a series of forums in Seoul to muster wisdom on venturing into North Korea - one on Aug. 27 sponsored by the Korean Bar Association and another one on Aug. 28 sponsored by Seoul Bar Association.

Sungtaek Lim, the head of the North Korea Investment Consulting Center at law firm Jipyong, proposed revisions in the basic agreement signed on Dec. 16, 2000 in the aftermath of the first inter-Korean summit in June in the same year, setting the guideline for disputes between enterprises of the two Koreas. The agreement mandated institutionalizing an arbitration committee with co-chairmen and four equal number members from both Koreas. "The equal number in the 10-member committee makes consensus on mediation practically impossible," he argued. He instead proposed two each from the two Koreas and three others from a third country. In forming the three-member bench dealing with individual cases, he suggested each one from the two Koreas and another from a third country as the head judge.

In another specific idea, Kim Kwang-gil, former legal affairs director on the managing committee of the now-idle Kaesong inter-Korean industrial park, proposed multiple security in the ventures in North Korea by drawing guarantee from Beijing-led lender Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank or setting a separate investment guarantee program for North Korean ventures.

Legal experts were in agreement that drawing a third party guarantee to inter-Korean ventures can ensure their safety and sustainability. They advise Seoul authorities to fine-tune and update past agreements and meticulously ready the systems and institutions so that the private sector can move right in as soon as the sanctions and borders are eased.

The basic act on inter-Korean relationship law upgraded in March that took effect on Friday stipulates institutionalization of a committee on developing inter-Korean relationship and working subcommittees. There has been little activity from the government offices including the Justice Ministry complying with the order.

Deferment on the groundwork for inter-Korea ventures until the sanctions are lifted can hold off that much headway in economic cooperation and development. Few had imagined this year’s activities between the two Koreas and between North Korea and the U.S. From the sudden and unpredictable movements, the breakthrough on denuclearization, sanctions, and inter-Korean relationship also can arrive on the spur of the moment.

By Ji-sung Jeon and Hye-seung Seo

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