A talk with Trump on North Korea? After vacation, Seoul says
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korea’s latest leader took office at an uneasy moment in his country’s history, inheriting the wreckage left by an ousted and excoriated predecessor. Among his lesser-noticed promises was a vow to improve quality of life in a society of long hours and hard work — to help break the chains to people’s desks, to let them take a breath and relax a bit.
And what Moon Jae-in preaches, it seems, he also practices. Even if, in the aftermath of North Korea launching its second ICBM, that means telling the leader of the free world: I’ll get back to you. I’m going on vacation for a week.
So while U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had an emergency phone call Monday, the South Korean leader’s office said Moon and Trump will likely talk after Moon enjoys some previously scheduled R&R, which ends this weekend.
It might seem an odd decision by a relatively new president in the midst of arguably the world’s biggest crisis, and certainly South Korea’s: Namely, North Korea’s march toward an arsenal of nuclear missiles, highlighted by its second ICBM test late Friday night.