Don't let Trump, Xi decide Korea's future

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Mon, October 23, 2017 | 22:25

Suggestions to the President

Don't let Trump, Xi decide Korea's future

Posted : 2017-05-10 19:16

Updated : 2017-05-11 18:39

This is the first in a series of articles by columnists about what President Moon Jae-in should do in the areas of North Korea and diplomatic affairs. ― ED.

By Donald Kirk

The spectacle of the leaders of the world's superpowers getting together to discuss what to do about Korea has been a constant throughout Korean history. We only have to go back to the division of the Korean Peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1945 to understand the thoughtlessness of foreigners toward Korea's fate. That was 40 years after the Taft-Katsura agreement in which the U.S. and Japan decided, the U.S. gets the Philippines and Japan the Korean Peninsula.

President Moon, in full knowledge of the sad history, needs to resolve, never again. At this juncture, Korea is in danger of the same humiliation. President Trump and President Xi Jinping pretty much agreed at Mar-a-Lago on the need to stop North Korea from developing and testing ever more fierce nuclear warheads and missiles.

Where has South Korea been in these discussions? Nowhere.

Yes, Trump has sent his top people over to Korea on highly publicized missions in which they have invariably affirmed the "ironclad" nature of the U.S. alliance with the Republic of Korea. Yes, Vice President Pence, Defense Secretary Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have all issued stern warnings to North Korea. Tillerson while here said "strategic patience" was done ― and from now on the U.S. was basically putting North Korea on notice that other "options" were possible.

What really counts now, however, is not all that tough talk, made not for the benefit of the outgoing conservative government at a time Park Geun-hye was no longer functioning as president, but the U.S. relationship with China. It seems Trump has decided to see if China can "do something" about North Korea. He's saying, we're waiting for China to demonstrate its power and influence over North Korea and compel the North to give up its nuke-and-missile program.

At this stage, having made no commitments to members of the Trump team who have visited Seoul, Moon needs to make very clear that South Korea should be participating in this strategy as an equal partner with the U.S. and China. The inference of the talks between Xi and Trump, especially as Trump persists in praising Xi, is that South Korea is out of the loop, not a party to the dialogue.

The Americans might respond, look, our highest leaders, on instructions from Trump, have all been here, but everyone knows they came one after another to solidify the U.S. position at a time when the conservatives were about to lose their grip. And everyone also knows the U.S. installed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) counter-missile battery, on a golf course south of Seoul with days to go before the election just to be totally sure to get it in place before the new president could halt the whole program.

Moon is under no obligation to revere or respect or accept whatever understandings were reached during these visitations in the dying days of the conservative government. Rather than confront the U.S. about THAAD, however, he should focus on the meaning of the Xi-Trump dialogue and exactly what deals those two made pertaining to Korea. Seoul has to be in on the process with a clear voice in Washington and Beijing.

Moon needs to make certain that large outside forces are not busily carving up the Korean Peninsula into perhaps "spheres of influence" ― China in the North, the U.S. in the South ― in the same pattern that has subjected Koreans to humiliation and tragedy in the not-so-distant past.

The writer is a columnist for The Korea Times.

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