What President Moon Jae-in should do about Korea

Moon Jae-in: A Noninterventionist President

Moon Jae-in, Korea’s recently elected president, is a noninterventionist and former human rights lawyer. The incumbent President has a long list of responsibilities in the area, the first of which is to resolve the nuclear problem in North Korea. President Moon Jae-in should also seek ways to improve the country’s alliance with Washington, especially given President Trump’s desire for a strong relationship with South Korea. He should also consider how to balance China’s and the United States’ diplomatic relations, as South Korea has to depend on both countries for economic and political survival respectively. That’s crucial as the two nations have been in contention over the deployment of the missile defense system of the Americans in South Korea. If President Moon Jae-in had to start his duties, he should begin by resolving the nuclear catastrophe in the North (Sang-hun, p 1).

Promoting Peace and Cooperation

The President should engage in diplomatic efforts and if possible, even involve the multiple parties so as to bring to a complete abandonment, the nuclear program of North Korea, and promote a peaceful relationship, economic cooperation, and mutual prosperity between the South and North. The quickly rising nuclear and ballistic projectile plan of North Korea is violating the resolutions of the UN Security Council and is a threat to global peace. President Moon Jae-in should bring the young North Korean President Kim Jong-un to the negotiation table and advise him on the economic and political implications of his actions regarding the nuclear program.

Sanctions as a Last Resort

If peaceful negotiations between the two Korean presidents are in vain, then President Moon Jae-in has no other option but to join the United States and bring sanctions against Kim Jong-un and his country. The United States’ President Donald Trump declared that there is no value in engaging in international peace deals with the North under the existing state of affairs if they cannot start the denuclearization process (Sang-hun, p 1). Through the United States’ cooperation, South Korea can manage to make the North nuclear-free just with pressure and sanctions should they prove stubborn with the peaceful negotiations. Moon Jae-in should engage in the negotiations regarding the North’s nuclear program, just like he did during the Sunshine Policy that resulted in a better relation in the border of the two countries and only uses pressure and sanctions if everything fails.

Works Cited

Sang-hun, Choe. “South Korea’s New President, Moon Jae-in, Promises New Approach to North - The New York Times.” The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 10 May 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/world/asia/moon-jae-in-president-south-korea.html?_r=0.