The new president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, has made a welcome overture to both his vanquished opponents and to the leadership of North Korea as he has sought to restart Korea’s political life after a leadership vacuum following the previous president Park Geun-hye’s indictment for corruption. During the past few months, North Korea has been particularly belligerent, but Moon has said that he would travel to North Korea and even meet the dictator Kim Jong-un if the conditions were right, which probably require Kim to pledge to abandon his nuclear and missile programmes.
Moon may also do some good by restarting goodwill measures towards the North, such as reopening of the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park and resuming aid to the impoverished state. But Moon should not relax his guard against the North and he should not weaken sanctions or reduce diplomatic pressure, given that North Korea has spent a decade conducting nuclear tests and upgrading its missile technology. The missile tests have caused the administration of United States President Donald Trump to send a naval group to the region. So part of Moon’s task is to persuade the US to help reduce tension. He may also carry out his pledge to review Thaad, a powerful US missile defence system designed to thwart attacks by North Korea, which China claims could be used to spy on its missiles.
But reducing tension is only part of the formidable challenges facing Moon. He also has to find the right recipe to kick start the floundering Korean economy, where lack of production, growing inequality and youth unemployment threaten the gains that turned the once war-ravaged country into the world’s 11th largest economy.
