President Moon Jae-in’s demand for a formal end to the Korean War was met with huge backlash from voices in both South and North Korea, including from senior officials in Pyongyang who called it “premature.” His comments and those of his top officials at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly look tailor-made to irritate Washington amid increasing tension in Northeast Asia.
As expected, Moon blamed the media and lawmakers from the opposition party for the “lack of understanding about the declaration to end the war,” while he held a press meeting with reporters in the Air Force One plane on Thursday. When asked whether he contacted and shared ideas with the United States, China, and North Korea before proposing the idea at the United Nations, Moon said he felt that the domestic news media and opposition lawmakers do not understand this idea, despite having pushed it for years now.
“In the 2007 North-South Summit Declaration, we announced that we agreed on working toward the declaration to end the war through three parties, which include the two Koreas and the United States, and or four parties, the two Koreas, the United States, and China,” he said. “Since then, the United States and China have agreed upon this idea and what Seoul and Washington have been discussing since then was how to connect this with denuclearization negotiations as the situation develops. I proposed it once again at this point, since this is the time that we need to talk again.”
Moon was factually wrong on much of the historical background he described. The 2007 joint declaration occurred on October 4 when former President Roh Moo-hyun met with then-North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il just two months before the South Korean presidential election. It was controversial for an outgoing president to sign such an agreement, and there were many problems with the declaration. It created a maritime peace zone around the Northern Limit Line, and conservatives argued that Roh surrendered South Korea’s territory in the West Sea. This criticism, in fact, was proven right after a series of North Korean military provocations in the region, including the sinking of the warship Cheonan and bombing of Yeonpyeong Island a few years after the declaration. This is another example that shows declaring peace does not automatically bring peace.
Moon also argued that the United States and China have supported the idea of declaring the end of war since 2007. However, this is also incorrect. There was an awkward moment between President George W. Bush and President Roh at the APEC summit held in 2007. The following is an excerpt of that moment, which many South Koreans believe is one of the worst moments in the U.S.-Korea alliance’s history.
< ROH: (Through translator) I think I might be wrong. I think I did not hear President Bush mention the – a declaration to end the Korean War just now. Did you…President Bush?
BUSH: I said that it’s up to Kim Jong-il as to whether or not we’re able to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. We’ve got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion.
ROH: (Through translator) If you could be a little bit clearer in your message, I think that would be very much appreciated.
BUSH: I can’t make it any more clearer, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. But that won’t end – that will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons. >
Moon served as Chief of Staff to President Roh. The ongoing situation show how desperate leftists are in making peace with North Korea without any sensible preconditions, such as the ones the United States proposes.
As if this plot was arranged well ahead of the UNGA session, the South Korean government and the North Korean regime released statements one after the other that appear to show their true intent behind the end-of-war declaration.
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, stated earlier on Friday that Moon’s proposal to declare a formal end to the war is an “admirable idea” and Pyongyang is willing to discuss improving inter-Korean relations if Seoul ceases hostility toward it.
“The declaration of the termination of the war is an interesting and an admirable idea in that it itself is meant to put a physical end to the instable state of ceasefire that has remained on the Korean peninsula for a long time and to withdraw hostility toward the opposite party,” she said. “For the termination of the war to be declared, respect for each other should be maintained and prejudiced viewpoint, inveterate hostile policy and unequal double standards must be removed first. Only when such a precondition is met, would it be possible to sit face to face and declare the significant termination of war and discuss the issue of the north-south relations and the future of the Korean peninsula.”
North Korean watchers have long suggested that the word “hostility” that North Korea uses means that they want the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula and an eventual end to the U.S.-ROK alliance. North Korea has publicly said that the security of its regime has to be guaranteed, sanctions have to be eased and joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States have to stop. However, the United States has been clear that genuine measures toward denuclearization should come before any of this.
Kim Yo-jong’s statement came just hours after a vice foreign minister of the North dismissed Moon’s end-of-war declaration proposal as “something premature,” saying such a declaration would end up as nothing more than a scrap of paper as long as the American hostile policy remains unchanged.
Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential Blue House secretary for public communication, said in a radio interview that Seoul interprets the response from the North as “very significant and weighty.” However, it also stated that authorities were still analyzing the statements from Pyongyang and it was too early to make an official response.
On the possibility of signing an end-of-war declaration by the end of Moon’s term, Park saw the chances as “sufficiently possible” if the conditions are met and opportunities capitalized on. “[Talks on a declaration] could speed up if the U.S. responds to the North’s demand to remove the policy of hostility and dialogues are initiated through the North’s acceptance,” Park said.
Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, who faced controversy for his latest comments arguing that “it is quite natural for China to pursue ‘assertive’ moves,” said he feels upset that South Koreans believe he is acting like a spokesman for China.
“I do not think the media reports that describe the South Korean Foreign Minister acting like the spokesperson from China are fair,” he told reporters on Thursday. “What I was saying was that developing a block of countries against a certain country is the mentality of the Cold War.” Chung dismissed the idea of developing a “non-Chinese block” led by the United States alongside its key allies in Asia and the Pacific, including South Korea, Japan, and Australia, at a conference held the previous day.
“Am I not able to say such a thing just because I am here in the United States?” he asked. “International relations are becoming democratized these days.”
He continued to argue that there was nothing wrong with his comment that “it is quite natural for China to pursue ‘assertive’ moves.” “Every country can practice assertive diplomacy that strongly suggests their point of view,” he said. “Many countries are concerned that China is becoming more coercive, but I do not think they are doing that to us yet.”
It appears that Chung does not think China’s economic retaliation against South Korea for deploying the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system and its continued distortion of history in the region are worth mentioning.
Chung also defended President Moon’s plan to end the Korean War. “It is not common to keep a state of war status for 68 years and has never occurred in history,” he said. “A declaration to end the war is just a first step toward the peace treaty. It does not have any legally binding power and it is just a declaration to show our willingness to move toward peace. Is [America] unable to do even this?” He added that it is “unfair” to South Koreans that the international community has not accepted this manner of a proposal so far.
One of the biggest problems with the latest comments made by President Moon and Foreign Minister Chung is that they did not acknowledge the fact that North Korea has continuously been developing its nuclear and missile technologies and conducting missile tests that threatens other countries in the region. They apparently believe that peace can come when they declare that peace has come or are possibly trying to deceive people to achieve their grand goal of ending the alliance with the United States through a step-by-step approach starting with an end-of-war declaration.
Many South Korean observers believe it is not a coincidence that North Korea laid out further conditions for an end-of-war declaration shortly after Moon’s visit to New York City. One thing is clear – the events in New York this week showed that the Moon administration is placing its own hopes ahead of South Korea’s national security.
