Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has proposed that the United States hold off on a demand for an inventory of North Korea’s nuclear weapons. 

In an interview with the Washington Post published Wednesday, Kang said demanding a list at the outset risks stalling negotiations in a subsequent dispute over verification. 

She noted that Pyongyang-Washington negotiations during the George W. Bush administration deteriorated after Pyongyang handed over thousands of pages of documents on its key plutonium-related facilities in 2008.

The minister said that at some point, related parties will see an inventory, but that point can be reached more expeditiously by action and corresponding measures that give Pyongyang and Washington sufficient trust.

Kang also said that Pyongyang and Washington must make a big deal on the North’s dismantlement of its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon and declaring an end to the Korean War. 

She said if the North permanently dismantles the facilities in Yongbyon, which are a very big part of its nuclear program, in return for the U.S.’ corresponding measures, such as the end-of-war declaration, that would be a huge step forward for denuclearization.