'Time for China, not US, to mediate S. Korea-Japan row'

Moon Chung-in. Korea Times file

By Park Si-soo

“China can be an important mediator between Japan and South Korea. Up until now, the U.S. played the role, but it is time for China to play that role.”

So said Moon Chung-in, special adviser for foreign affairs and national security to President Moon Jae-in, in a recent interview with Chinese newspaper The Global Times.

Read the full script: https://bit.ly/2kMrhui

He made this comment while speaking about the ongoing diplomatic conflict between Seoul and Tokyo and China's possible role for mediation. Moon, also a professor emeritus at Yonsei University, did not mention if the comment was his own or reflected the opinions of President Moon.

“In the past, the U.S. intervened to narrow the differences between Seoul and Tokyo,” he said. “For example, in 2015, when there was a conflict between the two countries over the comfort women issue, the Barack Obama administration intervened and narrowed differences so the two countries could reach an agreement on the issue.

“However, the Trump administration did not intervene, and has said that it is a matter between Japan and South Korea. Maybe that is one reason why the conflict between Japan and South Korea became deeper.”

The diplomacy pundit ― known as the architect of the Kim Dae-jung administration's “Sunshine Policy” to engage North Korea as well as the Moon administration's “Korea Peninsula Peace Process” ― has suggested ideas that critics claim would weaken the S. Korea-U.S. alliance. In May 2018, he

said

Seoul and Washington were in a “very unnatural state of international relations,” adding, “For me, the best thing is to really get rid of (the) alliance.”

Yet this time, Moon told The Global Times that the South Korea-U.S. alliance was “healthy.”

“The overall structure of the South Korean-US alliance system remains intact,” he said.

He pointed out that a cost-sharing deal for U.S. forces in Korea, America's plan of setting up bases for its intermediate range ballistic missiles here, and the transfer of wartime operational control were “issues that might need adjustment.”

He said the two countries would end up settling the issues because “alliance is a tool for enhancing our national interest.”