Seoul should come forward
By Choi Sung-jin
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The war of words between two of the world’s most worrisome leaders ― Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump ― has come to a temporary lull. Kudos to some grown-ups around the two for calming down their childlike bosses.
They will restart the verbal battle anytime, however, as Kim will not abandon his, and his father’s, dream of making his impoverished country a nuclear power, and Trump will go all out to thwart it ― by force if needed. And there is no guarantee their war of words will not escalate to a war of weapons in the process.
Already, many foreign media outlets, including those in the U.S., are busy carrying stories of how the impending war between America and North Korea will play out, killing hundreds of thousands of South Koreans, or even millions, as collateral casualties. As U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham quoted Trump as saying, “If thousands die, they will die over there. They are not going to die here.”
And the same U.S. media marvel ― or lament ― at how “blase” South Koreans are in the face of looming apocalypse, comparing them to villagers who became inured to too many cries of wolf. But the recent exchange of “fire and fury” and “sea of fire” was enough to drive many South Koreans, and not just weak-hearted or easily swayed ones, into thinking about their chances of survival. There are two reasons most South Koreans remain calm ― at least ostensibly ― amid the mounting tension, however.
One is based more on rational thinking.
They know the third-generation scion of the communist dynasty and his coterie may be homicidal but not suicidal. They know one of the world’s poorest countries cannot be any match for its richest, even with up to 60 nuclear bombs. It’s little different from a fly trying to bite a tortoise. These weapons are mostly for self-defense, by taking South Koreans as the hostage. And this makes the other reason a more emotional one ― most South Koreans cannot, and would not, accept the reality in which the thuggish regime with just one-fiftieth of its economic power could, or even would, threaten them while playing with nuclear fire. It is a matter of pride.
What they are less certain about is their biggest ally ― the United States, especially under a president the likes of whom has never been heard or seen.
It’s apparently rude to speak ill of a foreign leader, much less the one who governs the nation’s most important ally. However, it’s not easy to respect a foreign leader who blurts out threats of war at a golf course, risking hundreds of thousands of lives just because they are not his people.
President Trump may say this is the “art of the deal.” But few Koreans want to believe he might regard the issue of war or peace as some real estate bargaining. Koreans, who saw 3 million of their compatriots perish during the fratricidal war less than 70 years ago, don’t want another military conflict on this peninsula, even for reunifying their divided land, limited or all-out, nuclear or conventional. And there is no reason whatsoever the Koreans, victims of Japan’s colonial rule, should experience the same pain their former colonizers suffered as the first, and only, victims of nuclear bombing for starting the war.
All this stresses the need for South Korea to stop playing a pushover anymore and assert its role. President Moon Jae-in, who proposed to take the driver’s seat in dealing with North Korea during his meeting with Donald Trump less than two months ago, deplored later there are few diplomatic tools Seoul can use to drive the inter-Korean affairs in his direction. Hadn’t he known that when he vowed to play a leading role, Moon must have been either naive or foolhardy. Some say only by siding with the U.S. sanctions on the North, South Korea has standing room on the diplomatic stage in this part of the world. What happened in the past few decades showed otherwise. The stronger the external pressure, the more desperate Pyongyang’s adherence to its weapons.
Moon remained silent throughout the Trump-Kim verbal battle. His aides said their boss saw no reason to aggravate the situation by meddling in it. It was only Thursday that the South Korean leader said Seoul would not tolerate another war and any changes must come through peaceful means. Most South Koreans, this writer included, would have liked their leader to call for restraint on both Pyongyang and Washington, propose a truce in the war of words and present a dialogue scheduled befitting a leader who came forth to play a leading role.
President Moon and his administration must be bolder and more active, demanding concessions from their ally if needed, while rebuking their adversary. They should be able to ask the U.S. to tone down the annual ROK-U.S. military drills if North Korea slows down its nuclear weapons programs in return. By sitting with its arms crossed while watching the faces of everyone else, Seoul would end up being swept into another and unwanted conflict at worst or watching grand bargaining settled between Washington and Pyongyang at best.
Seoul has enough justifications to play a more assertive role ― as the only peacemaker in Northeast Asia where the world’s four biggest powers clash for hegemony.
President Moon has 50 million South Koreans behind him who lit candles for months for democratic reforms. South Korea and its leader must be able to induce the same passion from all peace-loving people in this region and the world to pull this peninsula out of a war crisis and proceed toward lasting peace.
Choi Sung-jin is a contributing op-ed columnist for The Korea Times. Contact him at choisj1955@naver.com.