President Moon Jae-in of South Korea warns against unilateral action against North Korea
Chika Mori and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is making it known that unilateral military action against North Korea is impermissible without the consent of South Korea. In other words, military rhetoric emanating from President Donald Trump isn’t welcome. Of course, the same obviously applies to propaganda and rhetoric coming out of North Korea. Therefore, the leader of South Korea hopes to calm the crisis by restraining more militant voices within the Trump administration – while, somehow, reaching out to North Korea despite the signs looking negative.
Moon knows full well that public anxiety in South Korea is being heightened by the actions and rhetoric of North Korea along with strong retaliatory comments being made by the leader of America. Hence, Moon can’t afford to remain on the sidelines and appear weak giving the current war of words between America and North Korea.
The leader of South Korea said, “No one should be allowed to decide on a military action on the Korean Peninsula without South Korean agreement.”
President Moon continued, “Our government will do everything it can to prevent war from breaking out.”
If the leader of South Korea is sincere and abides by his statements, then the Trump administration must listen more closely to political elites in Seoul. Yet, Moon must equally acknowledge that North Korea’s behavior since he was elected in South Korea isn’t leading to a reduction of tensions. Indeed, the good intentions of Moon towards political and military elites in Pyongyang seems unnoticed by North Korea.
The New York Times reports, “Mr. Moon’s pushback was the latest indication that Mr. Trump’s unorthodox approach to foreign policy, coupled with Pyongyang’s rapid progress toward its goal of nuclear missiles that can reach the mainland United States, was putting new strain on the longstanding alliance. And it underscored how Mr. Trump’s volatile language is sowing division with an ally whose help would be vital to the success of any American military campaign on the divided peninsula.”
Currently, it appears that some individual politicians in America aren’t concerned by the fact that Korean nationals will pay a heavy price if war breaks out between America and North Korea. Therefore, in order to stop the gap widening between political elites in Washington and Seoul respectively, it is essential that both nations work more closely together.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/world/asia/south-korea-moon-jae-in-trump.html
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
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