President Moon on right track

By Tong Kim

Less than two weeks in office, newly elected President Moon Jae-in has taken a series of positive actions for the good of the country, even though he assumed the presidency without a normal transition period. Elected with 41 percent of the votes cast, his popularity soared up to 80 percent among the people who watched his fast-paced good performance, his considerate rhetoric, and his non-authoritarian, people-friendly behavior.

At the outset, he declared himself a president of all people, including those who did not vote for him, willing and eager to cooperate with opposition parties which constitute a majority in the National Assembly. He was elected on the three major themes: achieving security and peace on the Korean Peninsula, eliminating the “accumulative wrongs” of the past and creating jobs.

With President Moon’s election, in the wake of the dismissal of former President Park Geun-hye by the Constitutional Court, democracy and the rule of law have been restored in South Korea. Moon can only deliver when his policy is supported by the legislative branch of government. The president is already reaching out to the opposition parties in search of their loyal opposition.

The president nominated a candidate for the prime minister for approval by the National Assembly, but he has not nominated cabinet positions, since the law normally requires the recommended nominations from a confirmed prime minister. In the meantime, Moon appointed some secretaries for the office of the president, including a chief of staff. So far so good.

The president is well aware that the most urgent national security issue is the threat of the North Korean nuclear and missile programs. His strategy is based on strong defense and pragmatic diplomacy. President Moon’s North Korea policy is becoming clearer and it will likely influence the other relevant countries, including the United States, China, and North Korea.

Last week Moon sent his envoys to Washington, Beijing and Tokyo. With Japan, the settlement of the comfort women issue by the previous administration remains a big problem. In Beijing, THAAD deployment is a stumbling block to the restoration of relations with Seoul: Beijing wants Seoul to undo the deployment.

With Washington, where President Trump is going through a political crisis over accusations of possible collusion with Russia. Trump received Moon’s special envoy Hong Seok-hyun in the Oval Office and promised to work closely with South Korea to resolve the North Korean issue. Trump reiterated he will engage the North if the circumstances are right.

There is a triple similarity between Seoul, Washington and Pyongyang in their conditions for dialogue: all three say they will engage “under the right circumstances.” Moon said he would go to Pyongyang under the right circumstances that will be helpful to resolving the nuclear issue.

Pyongyang’s foreign ministry director-general Choi Sun-hee said the North would also consider dialogue with the U.S. when “the conditions are right.” Pyongyang’s “right conditions” point to the withdrawal of hostile U.S. policy, suspension of military drills and U.S. willingness to discuss a peace agreement. Pyongyang does not slow down its threatening WMD development. A week ago, it fired another successful intermediate range ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead.

The U.N. Security Council condemned Pyongyang’s latest provocation. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley threatened to invoke sanctions against third countries that help North Korea, but also said Washington will consider dialogue if the North’s nuclear process comes to a halt, a point some analysts viewed as lowering the bar for dialogue from a change of path to denuclearization.

Also last week in Seoul, Trump’s envoy Matthew Pottinger, a senior NSC director for Asia, announced that a summit with President Moon will be scheduled toward the end of June in Washington. The coming summit should produce a basic approach to a peaceful resolution of the North Korean issue and resolve two particular bilateral issues: THAAD and the free trade agreement.

Seoul and Washington, as well as the international community, have made it clear they are not seeking collapse of the North Korean regime or planning to invade the North. Engagement and dialogue should focus first on persuading Pyongyang that it will benefit from denuclearization: it won’t bring down the regime or invite an invasion. North Korea is not Iraq or Libya.

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Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies. He can be contacted at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.