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| President Moon Jae-in delivers a speech to the Korea Society gala via a pre-recorded video, Thursday. The President again brought up the issue of declaring an end to the Korean War, following his message at the U.N. General Assembly last month. Yonhap |
By Do Je-hae
President Moon Jae-in renewed his push for a declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War during an online speech to the Korea Society, Thursday, although the same proposal made in a speech at the online United Nations General Assembly last month failed to capture attention either domestically or internationally.
Following the North's shooting death of a South Korea official last month, the public has become critical of Moon's persistent focus on engagement with North Korea.
But the President did not hesitate to again publicly propose the end-of-war declaration, the promise of which was one of the highlights of his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Panmunjeom in April 2017.
During his speech to the society, Moon called on the U.S. to work toward declaring an end to the war.
"I hope that our two countries can work toward the end-of-war declaration and draw active participation from the international community in this regard," Moon said. "This year marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. At the U.N. General Assembly, I restated before the international community that the war on the Korean Peninsula must end, completely and for good. The end-of-war declaration will indeed pave the way for peace on the Korean Peninsula."
Despite the criticism that his peace endeavors have not resulted in any concrete outcome, he also reiterated that previous efforts were not in vain. "There has been substantive progress made in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula thanks to the inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea summits in 2018 and 2019," Moon said.
While his peace process is seen as a policy in the right direction for the peninsula, criticism still remains that the call for the declaration is not only ill-timed, but underlines a glaring discrepancy in the ideals held by Moon and the realistic views held by the international community. Some experts see Moon's actions as impatience as he enters the twilight of his five-year presidency next year.
Lee Seong-hyon, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute, noted Cheong Wa Dae's lack of attention to the situations of the primary parties involved ― the U.S., North Korea, and China ― which are all preoccupied with their own political priorities and their respective fights against the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The U.S. is not interested in an end-of-war declaration," Lee told The Korea Times. "There is a lot motivation from Seoul, but it lacks any corresponding strategy and tactics. With just a year-and-a-half remaining, it will become increasingly harder for the Moon administration to maintain momentum for the President's peace process."
Others experts also point out that it was too hasty and undiplomatic for Seoul to mention the declaration without sufficient consultations with the U.S. and other parties involved, such as China, both signatories to the armistice.
With the U.S. presidential election less than a month away, Washington is not in a place to consider the situation on the peninsula. China also has a crucial political event at the end of the month and is not thinking about helping South Korea, a U.S. ally, achieve its political goals, according to a diplomatic source. The fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) will take place from Oct. 26 to 29 to outline Beijing's national priorities and economic development plans for the next five years. North Korea is also primarily focused on the pandemic and has ignored the South's offers.
But presidential aides say Moon cannot stop pursuing the declaration. "The declaration is a key element for the peace process on the peninsula. The President's message on the declaration is about where we should be headed in the future regarding inter-Korean relations," a senior presidential aide said Thursday.
Some still retain the view that a declaration ending the war can be a first step toward reconciliation and reducing tension on the peninsula, and therefore, critical for a real breakthrough in deadlocked inter-Korean relations and U.S.-North Korea denuclearization talks.
"The declaration ending the war may be a piece of paper, but it will still be a political symbol. The Moon administration is trying to undertake the declaration and denuclearization at the same time," an international relations expert said. "The end-of-war declaration is included in the Panmunjeom Declaration, which is the key basis of Moon's policy on peninsula issues. So he has no other choice but to continue to pursue its implementation."
