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President Moon Jae-in smiles as he shakes hands with US President Donald Trump at a joint press conference following their summit at the Blue House on Nov. 7. (Blue House Photo Pool)
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The US President avoided making hardline remarks about North Korea, KORUS FTA
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump’s third summit on the afternoon of Nov. 7 went off without any major incidents. Trump avoided making any provocative, hardline remarks about North Korea, and no issues were raised about the “three no’s” recently announced by Seoul while patching things up with Beijing. The South Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) matter was addressed in relatively mild terms, with no mention of “renegotiation.”
During a joint press conference after the summit, Trump said the two sides would use “all available tools short of military action” to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issues, while stressing that the US “stands prepared to defend itself and its allies using the full range of our unmatched military capabilities if need be.” Instead of emphasizing that the military option is “on the table,” Trump’s remarks appeared to allude indirectly to the possibility of tough action against the North, using “all available tools” and “unmatched military capabilities” if necessary.
When asked by journalists after the summit if the military option had been discussed, a senior Blue House official said there had been “nothing specific.” With this summit, Trump appears to have moderated the hardline rhetoric from his past blunt remarks about “fire and fury” and “totally destroy[ing]” North Korea.
A major focus of attention at the summit was the positions the two leaders would state on a trilateral military alliance with Japan and its possible development into an alliance, which has been the subject of recent controversy in both South Korea and the US. White House National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster had previously responded negatively to Moon’s reiteration of the three no’s position (no trilateral military alliance, no additional THAAD deployments, and no participation in the US-led missile defense system) – a matter that the US might react sensitively to on the eve of Trump’s Asia tour.
But Moon and Trump’s joint press conference made no mention of the trilateral military alliance. At the same time, Blue House Senior Secretary to the President for Public Relations Yoon Young-chan said that the two leaders had agreed during their summit to “enhance deterrence against the North Korean nuclear and missile threats and continue trilateral security cooperation for the sake of an effective response.”
Also drawing attention was the response from Trump when asked about China’s role and Moon’s “balanced diplomacy” approach, which conservatives have criticized as “weighing Washington and Beijing.” In his reply, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping was “trying very hard to solve the problem with North Korea.” Moon also explained that balanced diplomacy was “not about our stance vis-à-vis the United States and China.”
A senior Blue House official explained, “President Trump talked about how improved relations between South Korea and China would help to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, and indicated that he agreed on South Korea promoting its various relationships.” This suggests Trump did not express any particularly “differences” on the message the Moon administration recently sent with its “three no’s” to improve ties with Beijing.
Perhaps the most unexpected remarks from Trump concerned the KORUS FTA. While he said the agreement had been “not very good” for the US, he also expressed thanks to Moon “for instructing his trade negotiators to work closely with us to quickly pursue a much better deal.”
“There wasn’t a single word spoken about withdrawing from the FTA,” a Blue House source said of the summit the same day.
A second Blue House source appraised the summit later that day as “so far so good.”
“Up until now, we’ve maintained our stance perfectly,” the source said.
The same source noted that Trump “made it clear that South Korea is not being bypassed on the North Korean nuclear issue and clearly reaffirmed the South Korea-US alliance and cooperation.”
“So far, the US has been low-key on trade issues, which we expected it would come out strong on.”
By Kim Ji-eun and Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporters
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
