The biggest challenge for President Moon Jae-in is the mess created by North Korea’s wanton nuclear and missile programs, further entangled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to use force and China’s sudden change of heart to punish its beneficiary.
Amid this brouhaha, Korea has been sidelined from the decision-making process dominated by Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, despite being the party that will be most affected by any changes.
A big potential change to the status quo is President Moon’s intention to ditch the past decade of hard-line policy by his two conservative predecessors and return to the inter-Korean rapprochement employed by Moon’s mentor Roh Moo-hyun and Nobel Prize-winning Kim Dae-jung.
Moon has few people more qualified than Ban Ki-moon in undoing this diplomatic entanglement.
Ban served as Roh’s foreign minister and became the U.N. secretary general thanks to Roh’s all-out international efforts to get a Korean the top job at the world’s leading organization. Although Ban was courted by the conservatives and made a half-baked bid for presidency, he has rubbed shoulders with the leaders of the world’s big powers and coordinated for dispute resolution. He had been bogged down by the restrictions of his job as the leader of the multinational organization but is well known for his zeal in contributing to the resolution of his country’s greatest tragedy _ national division.
Moon should do two things to have Ban on board.
First, Ban should be given the courtesy and privilege that befits his former status.
The post of foreign minister looks too restrictive for him, and the post of prime minister has been filled already and could have caused a big regulatory headache if he was awarded that title.
Then, appointing him as plenipotentiary or special presidential envoy can be an alternative but any post that Ban may be given shouldn’t carry only ceremonial significance.
Moon should remember that each of his agenda items _ the realignment of relations with the North, the United States under President Donald Trump, Japan and the assertive China _ are comparable to bombs that can blow up in his face and hobble his presidency.
It would be a mistake to look at these complicated diplomatic affairs with the parochial eyes of his inexperienced aides and put them in charge.