U.S. President Donald Trump has reasons to stop a tit-for-tat with North Korea. If Trump continues his rhetorical war with the North, it’s the duty of President Moon Jae-in as leader of the main stakeholder nation to tell him to stop.
Trump may feel he is showing his unwavering will to protect his country by going toe to toe with Pyongyang. The North talked about attacking Guam, a U.S. territory that is home to its key forward base, with four intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), possibly armed with nuclear warheads. In return, Trump said the U.S. military was “locked and loaded.” Before that, he warned NK of an unprecedented rain of “fire and fury.” By all accounts, the North deserves the worst of the pejoratives.
But a war of words is Pyongyang’s trump card. Engaging in one with it means playing by its rules and giving “undue prestige” to the pariah state that has a hard time keeping its 25 million people fed. It had tested ICBMs twice in July and on both occasions there was no evidence it had successfully developed any working long-range missiles that could deliver a nuclear payload to their targets. In contrast, the U.S. has an immense arsenal that despite many reductions still is capable of destroying the world.
In other words, the U.S. is incomparably stronger than the North but Trump is making the North seem as if it were equal to the world’s only superpower. More dangerously, his rhetoric is multiplying the American public’s fears unrealistically, nudging it closer to the possibility of an armed conflict. The case in point is H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, who had the phrase “preventive war” put into his mouth by an overly anxious interviewer.
Then, in South Korea, frustration is increasing more over Trump’s loose lips than the North’s provocations. The reason is not that South Koreans have any brotherly love left for their northern neighbors. But from their experience living with the time bomb to the north, they think the real risk comes from Trump’s mouth. Their fear is backed by the market _ foreign investors are in a sign of nervousness taking their money out of the country, albeit not at an alarming level so far.
If Trump can’t keep quiet, President Moon should step up to the plate and tell him to do so. After all, in the event of war, it is his country that will bear the brunt of damage _ loss of lives possibly to the tune of millions and uncountable destruction of infrastructure.
So far, Moon has only chided the North about its wanton behavior, while refraining from making his views known even after Trump was said to have considered going to war with the North because only Koreans would die.
The Korean leader should see his mandate more broadly and take on things that are necessary to keep his people safe and secure. That would help strengthen people’s confidence in him as commander in chief, put to rest their worries about “Korea passing” and send the country back into the game to determine the future of their country. It’s time for Moon to speak to Trump unequivocally.