Message to President Moon: International Efforts To Resolve North Korea Issue Do Not Deserve Another Misstep by His Administration

Published in Seoul Economic Daily
(South Korea) on 17 Sept 2017
by Editorial (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Myung Jeon. Edited by Rachel Pott.

 

 

President Moon Jae-in will be leaving for the U.S. on Sept. 18, 2017 to attend the United Nations General Assembly. Although the United Nations Security Council recently passed another resolution to step up sanctions against North Korea, Pyongyang tested its missile capacity again – with an intermediate-range ballistic missile this time – raising more concerns from the international community than usual and eventually adding great significance to the meeting as a global diplomatic forum. During his trip to New York, Moon will face the challenge of enlisting the cooperation of member states to implement sanctions in response to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear missile provocations which went off without a hitch. It is also imperative for Moon to resolve differences among U.S. and Japanese leaders, and to engage China and Russia, which have offered lukewarm responses to requests to pressure the North, in a process of imposing sanctions on the recalcitrant regime.

Given these circumstances, the Moon administration’s stance on North Korea is a worrisome factor. The administration has made multiple statements that conflict with the international consensus at global diplomatic events, including at a summit meeting of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations held last July in Germany. On July 6, 2017, two days after Pyongyang’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile during a speech to the Körber Foundation, Moon proposed the so-called Berlin Initiative – which suggests holding military talks between the two Koreas as one of the major steps toward peace on the Korean Peninsula – confusing the leaders of the G-20 countries. To no one’s surprise, Pyongyang’s response to this dialogue-oriented approach has been a series of nuclear missile threats.

Nevertheless, Seoul approved an aid package for the North, and the aid decision is now upsetting the alliance among the region’s three traditional allies. Evidently, Washington is uncomfortable with the South’s humanitarian gesture, which it believes is at odds with its struggle to persuade China to play an active role in exerting pressure on Pyongyang. Shinzo Abe, on the other hand, has reportedly asked Moon to reconsider the timing of the aid. Any cracks in the trilateral alliance, coupled with Beijing and Moscow’s reluctance to impose sanctions on the rogue regime, would make Kim Jong Un's reckless nuclear missile gamble inexorable, causing national security anxiety in the South.

Moon’s visit to the United Nations will be a good opportunity to call for international cooperation with regard to North Korea, which has not ceased its provocation. However, if his administration insists on offers of assistance to the North despite the global sentiment at this critical moment, nothing will stop Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions. It is not the time for Seoul to be worried about the malnourished classes in the North, but instead to focus on how to protect its 50 million citizens, who are being held hostage by North Korea’s nuclear threats.



유엔 외교무대 서는 文, 대북 국제공조 엇박자 안된다

문재인 대통령이 유엔총회 참석을 위해 18일 미국으로 떠난다. 이번 유엔총회는 안전보장이사회의 제재 결의에도 불구하고 북한이 또다시 중장거리탄도미사일(IRBM)을 발사해 국제사회의 우려가 어느 때보다 큰 시점에 열리는 다자외교의 무대라는 점에서 매우 중요한 자리다. 문 대통령은 이를 통해 북한의 핵·미사일 도발에 대한 안보리 차원의 대북제재가 차질없이 이행될 수 있도록 각국의 협조를 이끌어내야 하는 과제를 안고 있다. 또 북한에 대한 압박에 미온적인 중국·러시아를 제재의 장으로 끌어들이기 위한 미일 정상들과의 조율도 시급하다.

문제는 우리 정부의 스탠스다. 그동안 우리 정부는 주요 다자외교 무대에서 국제사회와 다른 목소리를 낸 적이 한두 번이 아니다. 7월 독일에서 열린 주요20개국(G20) 정상회의가 대표적이다. 문 대통령은 북한의 대륙간탄도미사일(ICBM) 발사 직후인 7월6일 독일 쾨르버재단 초청 연설에서 남북 군사회담 등이 포함된 ‘베를린 구상’을 내놓아 주요국 정상들의 고개를 갸웃거리게 만들었다. 대화로 문제를 풀겠다는 우리 정부의 구상에 대해 북한은 연이어 핵·미사일 도발로 대응하고 있다. 이런 가운데 우리 정부는 대북 인도적 지원을 추진하기로 하면서 한미일 공조를 흔들어놓고 있다. 미국은 중국 등을 설득하는 데 애를 먹는 와중에 나온 대북 지원에 대해 불편한 기색이 역력하다. 아베 신조 일본 총리는 대북 지원 시기 조절을 요구하고 있다. 중국과 러시아가 북한 제재를 머뭇거리는 가운데 한미일 공조마저 삐걱거리면 북한의 핵 폭주는 막을 수 없고 이는 고스란히 우리의 안보불안으로 이어진다.

문 대통령의 이번 미국 방문은 도발을 멈추지 않는 북한에 대한 국제사회의 공조를 이끌어낼 좋은 기회다. 이런 때 우리 정부가 각국 분위기와 동떨어진 지원 타령을 하면 북한의 핵 폭주는 막을 수 없다. 정부는 북한의 취약층을 걱정할 게 아니라 핵 인질로 잡혀 있는 5,000만 우리 국민들의 안전을 어떻게 지켜줄 것인가부터 신경을 써야 할 때다.
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