Following his recent summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has landed in the United States to play the role of intermediary and peacemaker.
There, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, he has met with US President Donald Trump and – apparently knowing exactly which buttons to press – has appeared on Fox News to make his case.
But in the eyes of some observers, Moon is embarking upon a path that is strewn with both danger and legal barriers. In addition to his diplomatic outreach to Kim, he is aggressively pursuing economic engagement with North Korea, despite the serious roadblock that international sanctions present.
Why has Moon chosen this route?
Liberal, engager, peacemaker
The first answer is simple. Moon is a liberal.
His early political beliefs were formed by his experiences as a student activist during the period of South Korea’s right-wing, authoritarian rule, and subsequently as chief of staff for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun from 2003 to 2008.
His approach to dealing with the threat posed by North Korea has been dubbed “Sunshine 2.0” – a resurrection of the policy of engagement, rather than confrontation, with North Korea, which was first set in motion by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung from 1998 to 2003.
But beyond his tendency to see economic and political interaction with the North as the preferred modus operandi regarding Pyongyang, there are other more compelling reasons for Moon to seek rapprochement with Kim.
Last year US President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” and there was open talk in Washington about a preventive or preemptive strike on North Korea.
Any US attack could escalate into a full-scale war with Pyongyang. Even in the event of limited conflict, heavy collateral damage to the northern parts of South Korea would likely ensue, with the densely populated greater Seoul metropolitan area bearing the brunt of the damage.
In this atmosphere, Moon realized the tensions that led to Washington’s warning needed to be reduced and his political beliefs pointed him down the path toward that objective. So, seen from this viewpoint, Moon is not just a liberal – he is a pragmatist and a peacemaker.
Undeniably, Moon’s approach has lowered the chances of conflict. And dialog about denuclearization is occurring – albeit in fits and starts with plenty of challenges ahead. However, Moon now appears to be overplaying his hand.
Stoking Trump’s ego
In recent months, he has routinely presented Trump with overly optimistic reports about the exchanges between the North and the South. As one example, Moon has claimed that Kim is prepared to comply with the long-standing US ultimatum for “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.”
Moreover, Moon has unabashedly stroked Trump’s ego. For his part, Trump is anxious to accomplish what no other American president has been able to do – defang the Kim regime. He is therefore vulnerable to Moon’s blandishments.
And now we have a better understanding of Moon’s broader agenda. Not only is his policy a resurrected version of past liberal failures, it is based upon a need for domestic political gains. “Sunshine 2.0” is actually more like “Moonshine 1:0” – a mixture of political needs coupled with outright untruths that cause those who swallow his words to lose touch with reality.
For example, his recent trip to Pyongyang involving leaders of several South Korean chaebol – family-run conglomerates – was designed to foster an atmosphere of acceptance of economic engagement with the North. This was despite UN and other sanctions prohibiting such activity.
Business and politics
We do not know what promises, if any, those scions of private-sector businesses were allowed to make to their North Korean interlocutors – or what the company heads were promised in return. We can, however, presume that if any promises were made, capitalistic profit motives were involved.
Regardless, interjecting commercial interests into political dialogue that concerns national security is a lapse of good judgment.
One wonders whether South Korean taxpayers are aware that it is they who will be paying for the potential government contracts that some chaebol are salivating over. If the average South Korean believes that Moon’s wage-led growth will indeed solve South Korea’s current economic downturn, that is one thing; it is a domestic issue.
It is quite another when such an approach draws a major security partner into the risk-taking.
When one party is placed at risk, it has the right to voice objections about the behavior that causes the risk. It is entirely appropriate, since South Korea continues to rely upon American blood and treasure to guarantee its freedom and safety, for the United States to object to the risks Moon’s policy will generate.
However, Moon is doubling down, and recently crossed a line – the line of truth – when he baldly stated that Kim’s conditional offer to shut down the North’s Yongbyon Nuclear Complex in the September Pyongyang Declaration has the same meaning as the verifiable and irreversible closure desired by the United States. That claim is dubious.
Even more recently, Moon stated that so much progress had been made toward denuclearization that not even the North Koreans themselves could reverse the process. Such a statement either reflects ignorance of Kim’s likely endgame, or is disingenuous.
But, if Seoul has all along misrepresented what the North has been saying with regard to denuclearization, it does not help that Washington is stuck like broken record on denuclearization first, when virtually all experts recognize that is not going to happen.
We will soon come to an inflection point. How does a dysfunctional Washington deal with a disingenuous Seoul?
One thing is certain: nothing good can come of a path paved with misleading statements used as political stepping stones. Kim must be chortling with glee.
Asia and the world wants peace on the Korean peninsula. The Korean family want peace and reunion. USA, close your bases and withdraw back to USA and stop being in the way of PEACE!
What is dubious is you——–another FAKE NEWS Article on Asia Times with a man that does not even know what he is talking about!!!
What a ridiculous article.
It presumes far too much on what is driving those businesspersons to go to North Korea. In fact the viewpoint of this opinion piece is identical to those of far right in South Korea who are opposed to any sort of peace process with North and South Korea.
The truth is that the leaders of Korea, North and South, are making excellent progress to ultimately unify the country. It is the duty of outside powers, and the US in the first place, to support their efforts.
North and South Korea do not need the US to design a treaty advantageous to both of them.
Unification could come under the form of a Confederation, in which each of the Koreas would keep its own political model, and together they would decide what to do in the fields of economy, defense, foreign affairs and environment.
Nuno Cardoso da Silva confederation ? its almost impossible because NK regime can’t survive if opens bounders and a confederation can’t survive with opposite states with fully different laws and rights.
From a Korean perspective, this is a completely misleading article.
Describing peaceful dialogues between North and South as if they are outright untruths and completely out of touch with reality. Are you freaking serious? You stupid journalist, you are talking as if Moon is a liar who will lie to everyone in regard with the dialogues just to turn the South Korean people attention from domestic issues.
Furthermore, why is wrong to utilize commercial interests into political dialogues? You, journalist, stated that this is a ‘lapse of good judgment.’ Why is it wrong to talk about compensations, of course within legal bounds and in alignment with the UN sanctions, if North Korea proceeds with denuclearization?
The problem is secretive system of NK, there is not way to grant peace in future, the playbook of threats and requests can rinse and repeat again.
I suggest you to carefully read the other artilces pretaining to Asia today on this site. The tone has sharply went negative in many aspects not just on NK issue but also on China etc. These outsiders who does not reside in Asia are again trying to set their definition of the situation onto Asia to suit themselves. I’m sure more are to come. Pay careful attention and compare it with articles just came weeks before and you will see the clear difference. Seems like some order has came down from the top.
The problem with these arrogant westerners like the writer of the PROPAGANDA ARTICLE is their blatant interference in the affairs of Asian countries without knowing the reality on the ground and taking into consideration of what the Asians themselves want. That is the westerners know what is best for the Asians and Asians should just accept it.
This has led to horrendous disasters resulting in destruction and the killing of millions.
A good example was the Vietnam War which the US predicated on the erroneous belief that China and Vietnam were joined at the hips to spread communism to SEAsia.
Another example was the US support for Chiang Kai Sek in the Chinese civil war without admitting the corruption in the Nationalist government and the widespread support for the CCP in the countryside and the cities.
The same scenario is being repeated in Korea, and the Middle East.
A good suggestion, thank you Qian
This is good article. Moon has for a long time reminded me of Neville Chamberlaine who tried to give away Europe to Adolf Hitler. I see no real progress on denuclearization in NK. I doubt that Kim can play Trump much longer. China’s economy will now gradually be torn down. Allies are back in South China Sea. Soon, there may be more US military presence. Before Christmas. China is an imperialistic bully. Making more enemies than friends.
That’s our Korean problem. We don’t want war anymore. We want to live with peace together as before was one country. Please help us you outsider.
" Questions are rising over whether a disingenuous Seoul and a dysfunctional Washington can truly disarm a dangerous Pyongyang"
Pyongyang will automatically disarm the moment the empire order those 30,000 stormtroopers to go home and close all its imperial military bases. North and south korea will reunite and peace will descent onto northeast asia. Even a suckling baby knows this. This McCoy guy is another pig with his snout deep in the empire’s feeding trough.