'Bomber flyby was wrong, reckless'

Moon confidant criticizes Trump

By Jun Ji-hye

The flyby of the B-1B Lancer strategic bombers off the North Korean coast was a misconceived, reckless choice that could have led to an armed conflict, according to a key former campaigner for President Moon Jae-in, Wednesday.

“I think it was the wrong decision for the United States to fly the B-1B bombers near North Korea,” Rep. Woo Sang-ho, a former floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), said during a radio interview.

“It is very dangerous that President Donald Trump speaks carelessly, threatens the North and takes military action in reality, although Kim Jong-un is making a mess.”

Woo was the top officer on Moon’s campaign team during the presidential election earlier this year.

The lawmaker said Trump should refrain from provoking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and South Korea should persuade the U.S. president not to consider military options against Pyongyang.

On Saturday, the U.S. Air Force flew the heavy bombers from Guam and F-15 fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa farther north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) than any other American warplanes have flown in the 21st century.

At the time, the Pentagon said the mission was a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that President Trump has many military options to defeat any threat.

The flyby came amid the ongoing war of words between Trump and Kim, with the former threatening to “totally destroy” the North if the U.S. is forced to defend itself or its allies against the North.

In response, Kim said his regime will “consider with seriousness the exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasures in history.”

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho also said Monday his country would shoot down U.S. bombers if necessary as it has “every right to take all self-defensive countermeasures.”

Rep. Woo said military tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at the highest level since the 1950-53 Korean War amid the exchange of such belligerent remarks.

The third-term lawmaker urged the Moon Jae-in government to keenly cooperate with the international community and the Trump administration to stop the U.S. from exercising military options because they would open up the possibility of a full-scale war.

“The government also needs an inducement strategy to bring North Korea to the dialogue table,” Woo said.

Regarding the North’s threat to shoot down the bombers, Woo said the North seems to be bluffing as its intelligence assets and weapons probably lack such ability.

But he also warned it would be more dangerous as the North could act imprudently.

The senior lawmaker noted that sending a presidential envoy to the North would be necessary sometime but now is not a good time as the North has shown no signs of reconsidering its nuclear ambitions.

59% back peace initiative

Meanwhile, 59.3 percent of the public said they were satisfied with the Moon government’s North Korea policy, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Seoul National University Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.

The institute said the figure was higher than those of previous surveys conducted during the former governments as 53.7 percent liked the government’s North Korean policy in 2014, 50.4 percent in 2015 and 45.1 percent in 2016.

“The improvement of the level of satisfaction probably reflects the people’s skepticism of the former governments’ policies and the expectations about the new government,” the institute stated.

Moon took office on May 10 after a rare presidential by-election following the ouster of the scandal-hit former President Park Geun-hye.