After a long hesitation, President Park Geun-hye has decided not to attend an event in Moscow next month celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet contribution to victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The decision, while not entirely incomprehensible, leaves much to be desired in more ways than one.
It would of course be difficult for Park to stand side by side with Vladimir Putin while most Western leaders are shunning the 21st-century czar because of what he has been doing in Ukraine recently. Nor will there be much chance for the South Korean president to attain results in any possible meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who is expected to attend the ceremony.
What matters is not whether President Park goes to Moscow, but what she does in Seoul, however.
Putin and Russia have been driven into a diplomatic corner, but that does not mean Seoul should snub Moscow like the United States and other Western countries. Not only does Russia hold considerable leverage in resuming the six-country talks to denuclearize North Korea, but the Russian leader’s cooperation is crucial for realizing Park’s "Eurasian initiative.”
It would have been best had Park and her diplomacy team made preparations to realize a Moscow visit. Next best would have been making vigorous efforts in Seoul to sooth Moscow’s hurt feelings and trying to find a breakthrough in the inter-Korean impasse.
South Korean diplomats have apparently made no such efforts, bent on only watching the moves of the Western governments. Even so, we think it would have been better for President Park to go to Moscow, just like she went to The Hague for a trilateral summit with her U.S. and Japanese counterparts about a year ago. Another three-nation summit, along with Russian and North Korean leaders this time around, would have ended up largely as a photo-op but that would still be better than nothing at all.
All summits cannot produce lots of results or require perfect preparation. President Park and her diplomatic team need to realize the U.S.-Cuban thaw started when Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro shook hands at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in South Africa in late 2013. A handshake between the South and North Korean leaders could be even more significant.
The worst possibility is that President Park skips the Moscow event and also does nothing to improve relations with either Russia or North Korea, which, unfortunately, seems to be the case at present. Foreign ministry officials say that Park’s non-attendance and sending one of her aides as a special envoy instead was a decision that comprehensively took into account Seoul’s relationships with Washington, Moscow and Pyongyang. Only U.S. officials would agree.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se recently warned against self-demeaning defeatism in diplomacy, emphasizing that Seoul should be a shrimp that can move whales. Sadly, the Russian invitation was one of such opportunities to turn these words into actions.
China is expected to invite the leaders of both Koreas to a similar celebration in Beijing in September. We can’t help but wonder what Yun would say if Pyongyang accepts the offer and Seoul shies away from it, again.