South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong once again appeared to defend Chinese efforts to expand its global influence in comments made on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
He brazenly argued that it is quite natural for China to pursue “assertive” moves. Chung also deceptively declined to answer whether he thinks denuclearization of North Korea is a realistic goal. He said it is a “difficult question” to answer, even though Chung himself declared to the whole world in 2018 that North Korea is fully committed to denuclearization.
Chung’s comments were made in New York City at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) while the international community gathered for the UN General Assembly. South Korean conservatives and commentators have been calling Chung’s comments reckless and inappropriate, considering the venue at which he spoke.
When asked about China’s growing assertiveness, Chung said it is only “natural” for Beijing to project itself to the world, given its emergence as a major superpower over the past few decades. He also argued that the word “assertiveness” is not the right word to describe the current situation.
“I think it is natural, because China is becoming stronger, economically more powerful. It is not the China we knew 20 years ago, so they want to project what they have,” Chung said. “They want to have their voice heard by other members of the diplomatic community; we should try to listen to what they have to say to us.”
When asked which country South Korea would choose between the United States and China, Chung answered that no country should be forced to choose. “The alliance with the United States is the central axis of South Korea’s diplomacy and China is our most important economic partner,” he said. “We hope to see more stable relations between China and the United States.”
Chung also dismissed the idea of developing a “non-Chinese block” led by the United States bringing in its key allies in Asia and the Pacific, including South Korea, Japan, and Australia. He called this kind of idea “the mentality of the Cold War.”
When asked whether North Korea would actually give up its nuclear weapons, Chung gave an evasive answer by saying “it is a difficult question.” This is strange when considering the fact that he was the one who guaranteed to the whole world that North Korea is going to denuclearize in 2018.
Chung visited the White House in March 2018 and declared that North Korea had committed to denuclearization. At that time, he told reporters that he told President Trump that “in our meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he is committed to denuclearization.” Chung’s latest comments suggest he was deceptive about the situation or is still trying to deceive the world after more than three years of failed negotiations with Pyongyang.
Chung made further troubling comments about North Korea to the CFR. “We shouldn’t be timid on offering North Korea incentives if those incentives can be taken back at the first sign of noncompliance. We can do it. We can make such an arrangement,” Chung argued. “It is very important that we show North Koreans that they have concrete things to gain, if they sit with us, if they come back to the negotiating table.”
“Then we can move on to confidence-building measures, like announcing an end-of-war declaration,” he said. “Then we should consider presenting opportunities to relax sanctions, depending on their actions.”
Chung also added that he does not see North Korea’s recent tests of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles as “seriously provocative.”
Chung said one should look into the issue from a historical perspective and that it is meaningful that North Korea has maintained its moratorium on carrying out nuclear and long-range ballistic missile tests since late 2017. “Holding a number of summits between South Korea and North Korea and North Korea and the United States are historic accomplishments,” Chung argued, overlooking their failure to produce meaningful progress on denuclearization.
He added that “I don’t mean that we should reward them for what they have not been doing, but as incentives, so we can find some ways to ease the sanctions.”
The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said that Chung’s comments are a clear example of why the international community is concerned about South Korea leaning toward China and North Korea. “This is not something to say at a conference held in the host country,” said Yang Joon-woo, a spokesperson from the PPP.
“Is he the Chinese Foreign Minister or the North Korean Foreign Minister?” Yang asked. “One thing that is clear is that he does not appear to be the foreign minister of South Korea.”
A spokesperson from the South Korean Foreign Ministry explained Chung’s controversial comments at a press briefing held on Thursday. “Foreign Minister Chung did not say that he believes it is natural to see China’s assertive moves,” said Choi Young-sam, a spokesman from the ministry. Choi argued that Chung was saying it is natural to see that China is trying to speak up in the international community as their economic and diplomatic power is growing, and that it seems natural to see a country take such measures.
Park Sun-young, a former lawmaker from a minor conservative party and chairwoman of the organization Dream Makers for North Korea, or Mulmangcho in Korean, argued that Chung should be banned from entering South Korea over his latest comments in the United States. Her civic group has been working on North Korean human rights issues for decades and helped former prisoners-of-war (POWs) win historic lawsuits against the North Korean government and its dictator Kim Jong-un.
“Chung is willingly taking on the role of spokesperson for China in New York and arguing that it is natural that China is becoming more assertive as that it is not the same country as it was 20 years ago,” Park said.
“Chung said China is a very important partner that South Korea is becoming closer with,” she added. “This is something that the Foreign Minister from North Korea would not be able to say in the heart of the United States… North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon has disappeared [from the news] since July. I guess Chung is taking the role as foreign minister of the two countries. He should be impeached and banned from entering our country.”
