Moon to seek support for peace during China visit

President Moon Jae-in Yonhap

By Do Je-hae

President Moon Jae-in embarks on a brief China visit for a series of meetings with the leaders of China and Japan, Monday. Ahead of his participation in the Korea-Japan-China summit in Chengdu, Tuesday, Moon will hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

The primary purpose of Moon's visit to the southwestern Chinese city, about four hours by plane from Seoul, is to participate in the trilateral meeting which has been held since 2008. Topping the agenda for Moon will be North Korea, given the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula ahead of the Pyongyang-imposed “deadline” for Washington to change its policies. Moon is expected to seek increased participation from Xi during their summit today in urging North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to return to diplomacy rather than provocation. Concerns are rising that Pyongyang could possibly fire a long-range missile if the U.S. does not meet its deadline by the end of the year. The Pentagon's top general said ― in Washington last week ― that the U.S. stands “prepared for whatever” from North Korea.

“The two leaders will be discussing the current security situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim Hyun-chong, second deputy director of the presidential National Security Office (NSO), said in a recent briefing about the details of Moon's visit to China. “The President will expound on his efforts for complete denuclearization of the peninsula and establishment of permanent peace. The President will encourage constructive contributions from China and Japan.”

Beijing has stressed the need for resuming the six-party talks and preventing a resurgence of tension in Northeast Asia. For this, China and Russia proposed a draft resolution to terminate part of the sanctions against the North to the United Nations Security Council last week.

“China is committed to upholding denuclearization, peace and stability on the peninsula and resolving the issue through dialogue and consultation. We stand for advancing denuclearization in parallel with creating a lasting peace mechanism,” Chinese ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a recent press briefing.

“Currently there is greater urgency for political settlement. I would like to emphasize that both the DPRK and the U.S., as parties directly concerned, should cherish the hard-won opportunity of political settlement as well as outcomes that have been achieved. Both sides need to stay committed to dialogue and consultation, meet each other halfway and break the deadlock at an early date. China will continue to make constructive efforts on that.”

Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly talked on the phone ahead of Moon's China visit and discussed North Korea.

Despite the deadlock, Moon has remained hopeful about resumption of dialogue. During a summit with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Dec. 18, Moon said the nuclear talks will ultimately produce positive results. “I would also like to thank Sweden for mediating the dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in Stockholm and I'm confident we will be able to see the fruits of such endeavors without fail,” Moon said.

Pyongyang made a series of unspecified “important tests” from its rocket and missile launch sites and has threatened that “denuclearization” was off the negotiation table with Washington. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun's recent China visit after stopping in Korea and Japan last week ended without a tangible outcome. But Cheong Wa Dae said the opportunities for dialogue are not completely gone just yet, even after Pyongyang refused to respond to Biegun's open invitation to return to talks.

“The key point is that all parties concerned are doing everything we can to sustain the momentum for dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea,” a senior presidential aide said.

Preventing additional provocations from Pyongyang is critical for the South Korean leader who has underlined his diplomacy with North Korea as one of the biggest priorities of his presidency.

Another highlight of Moon's visit to China is his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Dec. 24. It will be the first official Korea-Japan summit since the last in September 2018 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Ahead of the highly anticipated meeting, Tokyo partially removed trade restrictions against Korea. But Cheong Wa Dae on Dec. 20 that this was not a “fundamental” resolution to the bilateral trade row. Cheong Wa Dae wants Tokyo to remove all export curbs imposed in July on some key materials crucial to Korea's high-tech sector and put Korea back on its “whitelist” of preferential trading partners.

Seoul has seen these trade regulations as Tokyo's “retaliation” against a Supreme Court ruling on wartime forced labor which has angered the Abe administration and prompted Abe's claim of “breach of international law.” But Tokyo has maintained that the recent move was intended for better trade management and denied any link between the trade measures and the historical dispute. Moon is due to return to Seoul on Christmas Eve after meeting with Abe.