ED Lee's risky business

President Lee Jae Myung, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump are shown in these two file photos released by Yonhap News Agency and Europe's news photo agency EPA, respectively.

President Lee Jae Myung is moving incrementally but firmly to deescalate tensions with North Korea. This comes at a sensitive time ahead of his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba this weekend, just before his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which the two leaders will discuss the Korea-U.S. alliance as one of the core issues with ramifications for Korean and Asian affairs.

After notching up the conciliatory gesture toward North Korea during Friday's speech marking the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation from colonial Japan, Lee on Monday directed the government to prepare for the implementation of existing inter-Korean agreements. Several significant inter-Korea pacts have been forged, but Lee in his Liberation Day speech pointedly said Seoul would proactively and gradually restore the military agreement of Sept. 19, 2018, that suspended some military activities along the border between the two Koreas.

Reviving the military pact is trickier than removing loudspeakers along the border and asking activists to stop sending leaflets over land. After the agreement was signed during the Moon Jae-in government, K9 self-propelled howitzers were moved to land from the bordering Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands for routine training. The North continued to push the military pact's boundaries, leading to its suspension under the previous conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Under the broad blueprint toward North Korea that Lee outlined in his speech, peaceful engagement with the North drew attention. Lee stressed that there will be no "unification by absorption," and that Seoul is committed to denuclearization, but it is time for the two Koreas to move beyond confrontation for an "era of peace" on the Korean Peninsula. He struck a similar tone for moving forward in relations with Japan as well.

However, contact, interaction and dialogue between the two Koreas should be based on prudent approaches and principles of reciprocity. North Korea in the past few years has dismissed any notion of "one Korean people," instead describing the two Koreas as separate states. North Korea's growing ties with Russia have changed its military ability, adding another layer to its nuclear program. On Friday in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un marked the 80th anniversary of Korea's liberation by hailing the relationship between North Korea and Russia.

Reciprocity from the North is nil at the moment, except for bellicose statements rendered by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader. We understand that the Lee government is working with the assumption that the North's latent reciprocity will bloom in the future. Past experiences have taught us that Seoul's pursuits of peace must be based on its powers of deterrence and patience. Also, Seoul has sought engagement with the North with the South Korea-U.S. alliance as one of the pillars.

That alliance is facing a crucial task, as Lee and Trump are expected to deal extensively with the "modernization" issue.

The Trump administration has been demanding that South Korea should increase defense cost sharing — possibly up to 3.8 percent of gross domestic product — and be party to the "strategic flexibility" of some 28,500 U.S. forces in Korea, to curb China's aggressive security posture in the Asia region. South Korea and the United States are reportedly working to mention "modernization" of the alliance in a joint statement following their summit talks.

Lee should be more specific in how the government will juggle engagement with North Korea while responding appropriately to U.S. demands to modify the alliance, while keeping South Korea's national interest in mind.

The administration must draw from the thick and well-weathered pages of inter-Korean relations — irrespective of where the administration stands on the political spectrum — to manage reciprocity- and trust-based interactions with the North. Inter-Korean ties have more players involved now.