President Moon Determined to Restart the Process for Peace on the Korean Peninsula

[경향신문]

President Moon Jae-in enters for a ceremony to grant letters of credence to newly appointed ambassadors along with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (right) and Chung Eui-yong (left), the chief of the National Security Office at the time, in Cheongwadae in May 2020. Cheongwadae press photographers

The replacement of Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, the only cabinet member from the first days of the Moon Jae-in government, with Chung Eui-yong, former chief of the Cheongwadae National Security Office shows the president’s determination to accelerate efforts to revive the process for peace on the Korean Peninsula. The latest reshuffle shows that the government will concentrate all its diplomatic ability into creating momentum and restarting the process for peace on the peninsula, which had been suspended along with the stalled talks between North Korea and the United States.

Foreign minister nominee Chung Eui-yong was a lawmaker of the Uri Party by proportional representation in the seventeenth National Assembly. He is one of the earliest former diplomats that the incumbent government recruited. Chung, a former trade official, and his experience as a diplomat lies far from relations with the four major powers, North Korea’s nuclear program and other foreign affairs and security issues, but he was appointed chief of the National Security Office along with the launch of the Moon Jae-in government. He also played a key role in the so-called “spring in the Korean Peninsula,” which began with the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in 2018. The reason that the president chose the retired Chung again to lead the foreign ministry is because he was a key figure in foreign and security policies for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and was deeply involved in negotiations between the North and the U.S. during the Trump administration from start to finish. The president appears to believe that Chung is the right man to restart the suspended process for peace on the Korean Peninsula in time for the launch of the Joe Biden administration in the U.S.

In the New Year’s press conference on January 18, President Moon announced this direction of the nation’s foreign policy. The president clearly told the press that he wanted to confirm that the U.S. shared South Korea’s views on the process for peace on the Korean Peninsula and that he hoped the U.S. would continue to seek dialogue with North Korea, as in the days of the Trump administration. Chung’s appointment is an extension of such views.

However the Biden administration has yet to announce a specific position on North Korea, so the government’s attempt to first determine the direction and lead the U.S. is somewhat risky. President Biden has criticized Trump’s policy since his days as a presidential candidate. It is uncertain as to whether he will support the Moon Jae-in government’s view that “The beginning of dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. should be the agreement signed between the leaders of the two countries in Singapore in 2018.” President Biden sees Trump’s North Korea policy as a failure, and this reveals quite a gap with President Moon’s wishes for the new administration to “succeed and develop the achievements by the Trump administration.” In fact, Tony Blinken, nominee for secretary of state, mentioned the need to break away from Trump’s ways and seek a new approach to North Korea in a Senate confirmation hearing on January 19 (local time).

One diplomatic source, who formerly served as a government official said, “Replacing the foreign minister with a key figure who promoted the process for peace on the Korean Peninsula at this time is sending a strong message to the U.S.” and added, “It can be seen as a request for U.S. support on the government’s existing approach to North Korea.” Experts point out the need for a specific plan to share views with the U.S. on issues concerning the Korean Peninsula and to expand the common ground with the policies of the Biden administration.