Moon advised to serve as mentor for Kim Jong-un
By Kim Jae-kyoung
The historic inter-Korean summit has created a silver lining for the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.
In order to ensure success for the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit and bring the isolated country to the outside, President Moon Jae-in and his administration should play three key roles, namely "mentor, facilitator and cooperator."
The issue here is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his regime have a lack of experience and skills in communicating with the outside world. Pyongyang has relied only on nuclear brinkmanship over the past decades.
First, Moon needs to mentor Kim to help the North become a member of the international community.
"The South is the key to helping the North navigate its way toward becoming a normal state," Katharine Moon, a professor of Political Science and the Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies at Wellesley College, told The Korea Times.
"The South would be the guide and advocate to help the North understand various mechanisms of international life and learn how to be part of international institutions."
She called on Seoul to help Pyongyang develop its economy to meet people's needs, engaging in people-to-people exchanges in education, technology and arts.
Secondly, President Moon should serve as a facilitator by acting as a go-between to narrow the interpretation gap over denuclearization at the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.
"These are big goals, but the South's role as translator and facilitator would be indispensible," said the Massachusetts-based professor. She is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"The South has to work as a translator and facilitator for the U.S."
Tony Michell, a professor at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) School, echoed her view, saying the Trump-Kim summit, like the Iran deal, will have many debatable details.
In this process, he said Seoul will have to help Washington and Pyongyang find a middle ground so the summit will set "the direction which will be highly favorable to peace in the peninsula."
"The biggest danger is that Trump tries to hustle Kim to set an early date for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) such as 2020," Michell said.
"Moon's role is to slow down the urge for complete denuclearization, and link it to the peace treaty that Moon is already committed to create this year, together with Kim."
Michell expects short- and medium-range missiles to become a hot topic.
"Kim seems ready to scrap ICBMs and the test site, but there is pressure on mid- and short-range missiles and this would put the North at a disadvantage against South Korean and Japanese missiles, so serious negotiation is required," he said.
Liang Tuang Nah, a Singapore-based specialist on nuclear weapons politics and North Korean affairs, thinks with the first summit concluded, Kim is looking to achieve results in terms of sanctions relief.
He expects failure to obtain concessions within a reasonable timeframe might mean a return to antagonistic North Korean policies.
Nah is a research fellow of the Military Studies Program at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
"That said, if I were in Moon's shoes, I would recommend he advise President Trump not to underestimate Kim and that the former should offer the latter a fair denuclearization deal," he said.
"Also, since Moon is going to meet Kim again in the fall, he might offer to communicate and possibly support any new improved proposals from Trump to Kim, subject to the preservation of the South's national interests, so that the denuclearization process does not falter."
Thirdly, the Moon administration should take the lead in boosting cooperation with the North in areas where the two Koreas can create synergy.
Michell, who is also president of Korea Associates Business Consulting (KABC),?said there are some areas where they can work together to find a joint solution.
"For example the North will not want to give up its space program, and Moon will have to suggest a joint North-South space program which is transparent but which helps both countries," he said.
"The North currently has better rocketry, and we must presume the South has better satellites.?The North will want to keep a civil nuclear power industry and again the South could offer joint activity."
By Kim Jae-kyoung
The historic inter-Korean summit has created a silver lining for the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.
In order to ensure success for the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit and bring the isolated country to the outside, President Moon Jae-in and his administration should play three key roles, namely "mentor, facilitator and cooperator."
The issue here is that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his regime have a lack of experience and skills in communicating with the outside world. Pyongyang has relied only on nuclear brinkmanship over the past decades.
First, Moon needs to mentor Kim to help the North become a member of the international community.
"The South is the key to helping the North navigate its way toward becoming a normal state," Katharine Moon, a professor of Political Science and the Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies at Wellesley College, told The Korea Times.
"The South would be the guide and advocate to help the North understand various mechanisms of international life and learn how to be part of international institutions."
She called on Seoul to help Pyongyang develop its economy to meet people's needs, engaging in people-to-people exchanges in education, technology and arts.
Secondly, President Moon should serve as a facilitator by acting as a go-between to narrow the interpretation gap over denuclearization at the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim.
"These are big goals, but the South's role as translator and facilitator would be indispensible," said the Massachusetts-based professor. She is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"The South has to work as a translator and facilitator for the U.S."
Tony Michell, a professor at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) School, echoed her view, saying the Trump-Kim summit, like the Iran deal, will have many debatable details.
In this process, he said Seoul will have to help Washington and Pyongyang find a middle ground so the summit will set "the direction which will be highly favorable to peace in the peninsula."
"The biggest danger is that Trump tries to hustle Kim to set an early date for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) such as 2020," Michell said.
"Moon's role is to slow down the urge for complete denuclearization, and link it to the peace treaty that Moon is already committed to create this year, together with Kim."
Michell expects short- and medium-range missiles to become a hot topic.
"Kim seems ready to scrap ICBMs and the test site, but there is pressure on mid- and short-range missiles and this would put the North at a disadvantage against South Korean and Japanese missiles, so serious negotiation is required," he said.
Liang Tuang Nah, a Singapore-based specialist on nuclear weapons politics and North Korean affairs, thinks with the first summit concluded, Kim is looking to achieve results in terms of sanctions relief.
He expects failure to obtain concessions within a reasonable timeframe might mean a return to antagonistic North Korean policies.
Nah is a research fellow of the Military Studies Program at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
"That said, if I were in Moon's shoes, I would recommend he advise President Trump not to underestimate Kim and that the former should offer the latter a fair denuclearization deal," he said.
"Also, since Moon is going to meet Kim again in the fall, he might offer to communicate and possibly support any new improved proposals from Trump to Kim, subject to the preservation of the South's national interests, so that the denuclearization process does not falter."
Thirdly, the Moon administration should take the lead in boosting cooperation with the North in areas where the two Koreas can create synergy.
Michell, who is also president of Korea Associates Business Consulting (KABC),?said there are some areas where they can work together to find a joint solution.
"For example the North will not want to give up its space program, and Moon will have to suggest a joint North-South space program which is transparent but which helps both countries," he said.
"The North currently has better rocketry, and we must presume the South has better satellites.?The North will want to keep a civil nuclear power industry and again the South could offer joint activity."
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