Analysis: Summit could be domestic win for S. Korean leader
SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — The Korean leaders’ surprisingly substantive summit announcement is a huge step toward a durable peace on the Korean Peninsula — and a Nobel Peace Prize for Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in. No, no, it’s the death rattle of the once formidable U.S.-led pressure campaign against the North as it crumbles under the false optimism of inter-Korean engagement. Or maybe it’s just the latest empty promise from a North Korean regime famous for backstepping?
How you see the third summit this year between Moon and Kim — and there could be another in the works, with Kim promising to come to Seoul soon — may depend on where you’re sitting, both geographically and politically.
The view from Seoul will largely be relief, mixed with a sort of built-in wariness that many here wield as a default reaction to anything having to do with their northern neighbours. South Korea is a deeply divided place politically, with a chasm between conservatives who hate the North and liberals who want to reach out. But for Moon, whose aides have been hinting at his eagerness to secure protection from the North’s conventional weapons, this looks like a domestic win, provided the two sides can follow through.
After all, much of what Moon and Kim agreed to on Wednesday — beginning to disarm their border, the world’s most heavily armed, removing land mines, setting up buffer zones to prevent accidental skirmishes and dismantling, under outside inspectors’ supervision, a North Korean missile launch pad — could tangibly improve South Koreans’ safety.