Moon Jae-in, the Fence-sitter

From the outset of his presidency, Mr. Moon Jae-in wanted to play a role of a mediator between the United States and its democratic allies on one side and Communist China and North Korea on the other.

Mr. Moon’s idea of being a neutral mediator for the resolution of international disputes doesn’t make much sense because he couldn’t be “neutral” even in the post-Cold War era as his country is an ally of the United States. That was probably why he has never been invited to play such a role by other countries in three years since he became the president of the Republic of Korea.

Only a few occasions in which Mr. Moon made a diplomatic maneuver of sorts was his voluntary efforts to arrange three meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Hanoi and the Korean truce village of Panmunjom. As we all know, nothing much came out of those meetings, however

His real diplomatic skills, if any, could have been used in the on-going negotiations to help settle hot disputes between the United States and China, but neither Washington nor Beijing asked for his service. Although Mr. Moon has not been critical of the United Stater on bilateral issues, he has never shown enthusiasm for the friendly ties between the two allies.

The latest case in point occurred when U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper asked his counterparts in Japan and South Korea to hold a meeting in Guam on August 29.  Japan’s defense minister Taro Kono flew to Guam while their South Korean counterpart was absent for the meeting. The meeting had been convened to discuss the problems related to North Korea and China.

South Korea’s official excuse was that because of the worsening crisis brought on by the Covid-19, the defense minister was unable to leave his post for an overseas trip. But as cynical press commentators in Seoul pointed out that the Corona pandemic was raging in America and Japan as well.

       Some pundits added that when Seoul cannot say openly “no,” to Washington, the government officials simply remain silent, lest what they say could upset the big and powerful neighbor, China.

In fact, Mr. Moon, a leftist politician, has been cozying up with Communist China since he became the President of the nation which has kept close and friendly ties with the United States since the founding of the Republic 70 years ago. And that is why Mr. Moon is often described by some pundits as a fence-sitter between Washington and Beijing.

However, the day will come sooner or later when Mr. Moon will have to come down to one side or the other for good. Otherwise, he will be like Humpty Dumpty who had a great fall after sitting on a wall. Then, we will have to change the last part of the old nursery rhyme: “All the president’s horses and all the president’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.”  (End)

Seoul Claims Coronavirus Is Leaving South Korea

President Moon Jae-in announced to the world the other day that his administration has successfully put the coronavirus pandemic under control and invited other countries that are interested in learning “how we’ve done it” are welcome to visit Korea.

Believing that Moon told the truth, almost all South Koreans, who had been gripped by fear and despair amid the fast-spreading disease for months were swept into the state of indescribable relief and hope. They were also proud of themselves before the world as the country has become one of the leading nations that had achieved such a feat of “winning the battle” against the vicious virus.

Meanwhile, the popularity of President Moon in opinion polls shot up, especially among the country’s voters who will cast their ballots on April 15 to elect the members of the National Assembly. It was not immediately clear whether the president made his remark prematurely in order to help the pro-government left-wing parties gain the control of the national legislature.

Despite the presidential announcement, however, the number of persons found to have contracted the virus continued to come in, proving that the pandemic is far from over. What’s more, as of Sunday, March 29, the government is debating whether to reopen the nation’s schools in early next month as having been announced or postpone the opening day yet again, contradicting the president’s proclamation that the threat of the coronavirus is over in South Korea.

“We cannot run a risk of opening schools nationwide and see some of our children getting infected,” one news commentator was quoted as saying. “As far as I’m concerned,” he added, “President Moon popped the champagne cork too early. (END)