U.S.-North Korea: Victory for President Moon?

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ABC News reports: “President Donald Trump has agreed to a high-stakes meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by this May on his nuclear weapons program, South Korea’s national security adviser announced at the White House Thursday evening.”

Jonathan Cheng writes in “A U.S.-North Korea Meeting Reflects Victory for Moon Jae-in” in the Wall Street Journal that: “For South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the announcement of a meeting between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea marked the biggest coup of his 10-month presidency.

“It came after a year in which South Korea appeared to be left out of a cycle of escalating tension between the U.S. and North Korea — even as Mr. Moon, a left-leaning leader who for decades has pushed for more engagement with Pyongyang, talked about putting South Korea ‘in the driver’s seat’ on security matters on the Korean Peninsula.”

For updates on Korea, see @accuracy Twitter feed.

CHRISTINE AHN, christineahn at mac.com, @christineahn
Founder of Women Cross DMZ, Ahn said today: “It’s a mistake to believe that ‘maximum pressure’ forced North Korea to dialogue; it was Moon’s masterful diplomatic stroke. It’s a dangerous rewriting of what happened, and it is sure to be what causes Trump to fail in talks with Kim.

“Moon showed genuine desire for peaceful resolution, which is why Kim reciprocated this way; maximum pressure/strategic patience does not work because it doesn’t understand North Korea’s genuine fears.

“Moon engaged in diplomacy that treated NK with respect with an eye to a long-term solution, not short-term transaction. Trump should understand what Moon does: North Korea’s long-held desire for a peace treaty and normalized relations as key to achieving a nuclear-free Korea.”

Earlier this year, Ahn wrote the piece “Korea’s ‘Olympic truce’ is a good start for peace.”