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| Foreign Minister nominee Chung Eui-yong speaks during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. Chung said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had the intention to give up its nuclear program. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
Differing views between South Korea and the United States on North Korea's nuclear ambitions may cause discord, affecting the allies' cooperation on resolving the problem, according to diplomatic observers, Monday.
Should Seoul stick to such an approach toward Pyongyang, it may find itself alienated from Washington in terms of its policies toward the totalitarian state, they say.
President Moon Jae-in said in his New Year press conference, Jan. 18, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had the intention to denuclearize his country. This stance was reiterated by his pick for foreign minister, Chung Eui-yong, who also said in Friday's confirmation hearing that Kim was still sincere about giving up his nuclear program.
However, the U.S. State Department's de facto refutation of the South Korean government's stance on the Kim regime's denuclearization efforts came less than a day later, saying that North Korea's unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs, together with its willingness to proliferate advanced technology, constitute a serious threat to international peace and security by undermining the global nonproliferation regime, according to Radio Free Asia.
The experts expressed concerns that the Moon administration is still stuck amid the memories of the inter-Korean "good old days" of 2018, when three summits between Moon and Kim took place, along with rapid rapprochement between the U.S. and North Korea, adding that its North Korea policy is still coming from these memories without facing reality.
"Almost everyone in the Joe Biden administration is skeptical about Kim Jong-un's willingness to abandon his nuclear programs, due to the North's violation of the Feb. 29, 2012 agreement to freeze its nuclear and missile programs, and Kim doubling down on his nuclear arms buildup during last month's party congress. Thus, the Biden team cannot accept the South Korean government's optimistic view on the North's nuclear program," said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.
"In its discussions with the U.S., should the South Korean government approach the nuclear issue stressing only Kim's willingness to denuclearize, the gap in the allies' perception of the nuclear problem will make it tougher to resolve. In addition, Moon should not have said that the Biden administration should inherit the 2018 Singapore statement in its policy toward the North, because there are those from the Biden team who are not positive about the deal."
Shin Beom-chul, the director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, also said that cooperation between South Korea and the U.S. on the North's denuclearization may get off to a bad start if the Moon administration makes unconvincing arguments.
"Despite his promise to boost its nuclear program in the party congress, the South Korean government keeps saying the North Korean leader has the intention to denuclearize. Rather than drawing up a reality-based policy, they are making a rhetoric-based approach to the North Korean nuclear issue ― a method used during the Donald Trump years that is now unacceptable under the Biden administration," Shin said.
"While the Biden administration is attempting to reverse the Trump administration's North Korea policy, the South Korean government is repeatedly urging the Biden team to take over its predecessor's policy, which it considers a failure. This difference in approaches heralds the fact that friction is likely for the present time concerning the allies' cooperation on the nuclear issue."
In addition, he said continuing discord with the Moon administration may lead the Biden administration to rethink its cooperation with the current South Korean government, with Moon's term ending in May 2022.
"If the two countries fail to reconcile differing views on the issue by the end of the first half of the year, the Biden administration may not be in a hurry and may plan to discuss the issue with the next government instead," Shin said.
"In that respect, if President Moon wants to do something to resolve the nuclear matter, he needs to find a middle ground with President Biden."
Park also advised the Moon administration to set North Korean denuclearization as the goal in its cooperation with the U.S. rather than promoting the North's willingness to give up its nuclear program.
"The South should simultaneously pursue the three principles: denuclearization of North Korean, a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and an improvement in North Korea-U.S. relations," he said.
