Anchor: The Trump administration's former envoy to North Korea says Washington should lift some of the sanctions placed on Pyongyang. During an interview with KBS World Radio, Ambassador Joseph Yun said North Korea, in return, should declare its nuclear arsenal to resolve the stalemate. 
Kim Bum-soo has more.  

Report: 

[Sound bite: Ambassador Joseph Yun - former US Special Representative for North Korea (English)]
"We need to see a step-by-step approach... there is no other possible approach."

Former U.S. special envoy to North Korea Joseph Yun says the Trump administration must take a step-by-step approach in denuclearizing the North. 

During an interview with KBS World Radio's Korea24 on Thursday, Ambassador Yun addressed the current nuclear stalemate, suggesting that the U.S. should lift some of the sanctions on North Korea.

[Sound bite: Ambassador Joseph Yun - former US Special Representative for North Korea (English)]
"... diplomats from both sides – not at the summit level, obviously, but at [the] working level – have to get together, try to salvage what was on the table, [and] improve on it a little bit as far as both [sides] are concerned. For the American side, [this] would mean giving up somewhat on sanctions, and [for] the North Korean side, it would mean increasing the offer on denuclearization, not just Yongbyon, but perhaps through a declaration that would consist of accounting of nuclear weapons [and] fissile material. That would go some way to improve the package as far as both sides can see."

Yun said President Donald Trump should have reached at least "some deal" with Kim Jong-un at the summit in Hanoi last month. 

[Sound bite: Ambassador Joseph Yun - former US Special Representative for North Korea (English)]
"To say no deal is better than a bad deal is rhetoric only. Of course no deal is better than a bad deal, nobody wants a bad deal. But the question is, could there have been some deal, limited in scope, that could have been advantageous to both sides... After all, they agreed on elements like having a declaration to end the war, exchanging diplomatic liaison offices, restoring humanitarian assistance. Those are not nothing."

He also urged South Korea to be clandestine in mediating between Washington and Pyongyang especially in forging sanctions exemptions related to inter-Korean projects. 

[Sound bite: Ambassador Joseph Yun - former US Special Representative for North Korea (English)]
"Many ideas coming from Seoul are good, but they should be kept on quiet channels, they should not be announced publicly, so that differences are obvious to see. Differences should be patched up through quiet talks between the two capitals. I’m afraid right now there [is] too much public discourse accentuating differences rather than the unity between the two alliance partners. As alliance partners, the U.S. and South Korea should be speaking with the same voice."

From 2016 to 2018, the Korean American career diplomat served as the special representative for North Korea, taking the lead in the repatriation of the late detainee Otto Warmbier. He also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2011 to 2013. 

The full-length interview with Yun will first air on the Thursday edition of Korea24.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.