The two leaders couldn’t be more different. The better known, U.S. President Donald Trump, is a controversial individual who, in a matter of months, has divided the American people while also managing to negatively affect much of the international community.
The other leader, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, took office only last year at a time when tension between North Korea and the United States was escalating dangerously, with Trump repeatedly threatening to take military action if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn’t stop his nuclear and long-range missile programs.
The escalation of threats, accompanied by equally threatening language from Kim, reached the point that many governments feared the two leaders would push their countries into military action, including the possible use of nuclear weapons.
To further increase concern that Trump might see using force against North Korea as useful to rally popular support at home, he insisted efforts to enter a peaceful dialogue with Kim Jong Un were pointless, including efforts by Trump’s own secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
However, one individual not prepared to accept Trump’s hardline policy toward North Korea was South Korea’s Moon, active in promoting human rights and democratic practices before his election. He had promised during his election campaign to start better relations with North Korea.
And despite the fact Trump has dominated the crisis, Moon recognized the only realistic course of action with Pyongyang was to initiate a dialogue, as previous South Korean leaders had done.
Fortunately, the fact that South Korea is hosting the Winter Olympics in February provided Moon with a timely opportunity to suggest North Korean involvement in the Games while also discussing ways to ease tensions and improve overall relations. (North Korea clearly would benefit tremendously if UN and other sanctions imposed on Pyongyang were eventually removed.)
Although Trump maintains that this breakthrough was a result of his own firm policies toward North Korea, the reality is that Moon is the one who took the initiative in beginning a dialogue.
At the same time, Moon should be under no illusions regarding North Korea’s tactics of trying to undermine the Trump administration’s role in the Korean Peninsula. In fact, language in a document from this week’s inter-Korean talks makes it clear that the forthcoming discussions might be exclusively between Seoul and Pyongyang, without direct American involvement.
Interestingly, this potential breakthrough is taking place while Tillerson and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland host a meeting in Vancouver involving government officials from countries keen to see a peaceful resolution of the tension with North Korea.
Much of the North Korean population has been conditioned to believe their country’s development of its nuclear and missile programs is an insurance policy against any aggression by other countries, especially the U.S.
Some believe that even if the U.S. and other key countries agreed to a non-aggression pact with North Korea, Pyongyang would likely accept only some form of freeze and international inspection of its nuclear and missile programs, instead of accepting their total destruction.
During his recent New Year’s speech, the North Korean leader said: “Our republic is finally in possession of a strong and reliable war deterrent that cannot be reversed by any power.”
Skeptics point out that past deals entered into by Washington and Pyongyang were eventually undermined by such powerful politicians as former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney and aerospace groups, which saw any deals with North Korea undermining their own long-term business interests.
Nevertheless, those of a more optimistic disposition might hope next month’s Winter Games in South Korea will be only the first steps in a process that eventually benefits all the long-separated Korean people.
Harry Sterling, a former diplomat, is an Ottawa-based commentator. He served in South Korea.
