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South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang take a commemorative photograph following the close of the 20th ASEAN+3 Summit at the Manila International Convention Center. (Yonhap News)
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The South Korean leader also garnered support for his New Southern Policy toward ASEAN
After completing his eight-day tour of three countries in Southeast Asia, South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a press conference in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 14 at which he expressed with satisfaction that the visit “was quite productive and rewarding.” Moon secured the support of each country for his New Southern Policy, which sets out to greatly strengthen South Korea’s relations with ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and he widened the horizon of foreign policy through bilateral interaction with individual countries on the sidelines of this multilateral diplomatic event.
What is worth regarding as the most important accomplishment of this trip, however, is Moon’s creation of an opportunity to reach an agreement on the THAAD dispute and to repair South Korea’s relations with China, which have been on ice for over a year and four months. Over the course of his trip, Moon had consecutive meetings with the two most powerful people in China – President Xi Jinping (Nov. 11) and Li Keqiang (Nov. 13) – and South Korea and China agreed to quickly normalize cooperation and exchange in all areas.
This wrapped up the THAAD conflict, which had gone on for more than a year and four months since South Korea and the US abruptly announced the deployment of THAAD in July 2016, and it put the leaders’ imprimatur on normalizing bilateral relations. In particular, the agreement to hold a summit in China in the middle of next month is prompting the optimistic prediction that relations between the two countries will soon be completely restored. Moon shared his own optimism with reporters on Nov. 14: “I think that my visit to China next month will be a critical opportunity for development in our bilateral relations.”
During Moon and Li’s introductory remarks prior to their meeting on Nov. 13, it hardly seemed a coincidence that the two leaders drew upon the imagery of spring as they predicted a “balmy wind” while hoping for the two countries’ relations to be completely restored. Quoting a classic Chinese poem, Moon remarked that “spring has not really come until all the flowers are in bloom” and called for the quick restoration of bilateral relations in all areas, including politics, foreign policy, the economy and culture.
“There’s a saying that when spring comes, the waters of the river become warm first, and the duck in the river can feel the warmth of spring,” Lee said in response.
Once the reporters left the room, the two leaders spoke for 50 minutes on issues such as the restoration of South Korea-China relations, urgent economic matters and the North Korean nuclear program. “Premier Li did bring up the THAAD issue during the topic of restoring relations, but it was part of reviewing the process of conflict in the past,” said a senior official at the Blue House.
As the official put it, “The two countries haven’t finished their agreement to ‘seal up’ the THAAD issue – they’re still in the process of doing so.”
“The THAAD issue hasn’t been completely resolved, and China hasn’t switched over to supporting THAAD, either. It has been ‘sealed up,’ to borrow the expression in the press,” Moon himself said.
When it comes to economic matters, Moon called for a resolution of specific problems faced by South Korean companies due to the THAAD conflict in areas such as tourism and exchange, car battery subsidies, and anti-dumping import regulations. But Li dodged this assault with a generic response: “Even though some concrete and sensitive issues cannot be avoided, the prospects for real cooperation between South Korea and China are very bright.”
Considering that the Chinese government officially holds that it has not taken any retaliation for THAAD, Li’s remarks may also be seen as hinting that, even if the Chinese government doesn’t take any official measures, tangible and intangible problems for South Korean companies will disappear because its policy direction has already changed. “The discussion will continue during the South Korea-China summit in December. There’s also a plan to charter two planes so that interested businesspeople can accompany President Moon to China [in December],” said a senior official at the Blue House who sat in on the meeting.
In regard to the North Korean nuclear weapons and missile issues, the Blue House said during the briefing that “President Moon and Premier Li share the view that it’s of paramount importance for North Korea to demonstrate its willingness to halt its provocations and to denuclearize. They agreed to find a creative solution in order to orchestrate a turning point.”
It is noteworthy that this treats “the willingness to denuclearize,” and not denuclearization itself, as the prerequisite for resuming dialogue. The search for a creative solution might mean resuming dialogue on the condition that North Korea does not make the current situation any worse, just as with the THAAD issue between South Korea and China.
In connection with this, Moon emphasized once again the two-stage plan of first freezing and then dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program, which he has already proposed as a solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. He also repeated his official stance that “This is the time to focus on toughening sanctions and pressure in order to guide North Korea down the path toward dialogue.”
In regard to participating in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific security system mentioned by US President Donald Trump during his summit with Moon on Nov. 7, Moon said, “That was the first time I’d heard that proposal. If it means cooperation for joint prosperity, I have no objection, but since the South Korea-US alliance was described as a linchpin for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, I had trouble fully understanding it and deferred taking a position on it.”
By Kim Bo-hyeop and Jung In-hwan, staff reporters
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
