Why Moon Jae-in should go to Singapore
By Lee Seong-hyon
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It's paramount that President Moon Jae-in go to Singapore where the historic summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will be held, not for the symbolism of a person who mediated their meeting, but to troubleshoot a communication gap between the couple; one is from Mars the other from Venus.
Some argue this will put Moon in the very precarious “middle,” if the summit goes belly up. Trump on numerous occasions threatened to “walk out.” Without Moon, however, the failure could be even more catastrophic.
First, there are linguistic and cultural communication barriers that are too often underestimated. North Koreans also speak Korean, not only in a different accent than those in South Korea, but it also carries a rhetorical trait that could be easily misunderstood if taken literally.
In fact, the world just witnessed one very prominent such case that made Trump initially cancel the summit, before he switched it back on, in a dizzy roller coaster we all rode along. The aggressive statements from North Korea, particularly that of North Korea's vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui was cited by Trump as a trigger that led him to scrap the summit. Choe threatened to cancel the meeting. Trump outmaneuvered her, by announcing the cancellation first.
The canceling reveals a deep communication gap, cultural gap, and a lack of “reading between the lines” on the part of Washington in decoding North Korea's message. Despite being furious over the analogy of the Libyan model (which North Korea sees as a sure recipe for regime change), all along North Korea has been sending a consistent signal that it wanted a meeting with Trump.
It was reported that Trump's national security advisor John Bolton showed Choe's statement to Trump that prompted him to cancel the meeting. If there had been an intelligence analyst present who was proficient with North Korean political rhetoric, he must have smiled and said to Trump, “Sir, I think we are still on the game. You're good to go to Singapore.”
North Korea retains the socialist propaganda tradition, a relic from the Cold War era. Namely, it treats public opinion campaigns seriously, like a war. It is reflected in their routine hostile words, name-calling, usually not used in the 21st century international community. It should be noted that North Korea's recent defiant and pugnacious wordings were conveyed through its state media outlets, not via diplomatic channels.
In addition, most of North Korean state media's English translation doesn't do justice to their original Korean texts. So, it shouldn't be used as a basis for any serious diplomatic deliberation or for judging North Korea's intentions.
Second, Moon is a refugee from North Korea. He understands the delicate nuance the North Korean language is impregnated with. Besides, he already met Kim twice. Trump none. Everything Trump heard was through Pompeo, who heard English translations from his interpreter. Even if the U.S. has its team of translators, many of whom were trained as simultaneous conference interpreters in South Korea, not as experts on North Korean politics.
It should be noted that a similar “lost in communication” incident occurred in 2002 when a U.S. negotiation team, led by senior state department official James Kelly, visited Pyongyang. Kelly confronted Kang Sok-ju, his North Korean counterpart, and later, according to Kelly, Kang “admitted” North Korea was secretly enriching uranium for nuclear arms. North Korea denied saying it. There was more than one “fluent” Korean language speaker on Kelly's team. But the episode is still debated among diplomatic historians even today what Kang really said. Kang passed away in 2016.
We should be mindful about that the fact this is going to be a very delicate summit, and language and culture will have a role ― more than one may expect.
Moon is modest and will not steal the spotlight, which is sincerely yours, Trump. Moon will stay in a room next to the negotiation venue, and occasionally stop by during the coffee break to see if “everything” is ok. Otherwise, he will simply enjoy the company of Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, to discuss some bilateral issues of their own.
Lee Seong-hyon (sunnybbsfs@gmail.com), Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute.