Moon shaping his North Korean policy

SOUTH Korea’s new President Moon Jaein spoke to the leaders of China and Japan yesterday, hours after a telephone call with his US counterpart Donald Trump, officials said, as he began shaping his approach to the nuclear-armed North.

Moon favours engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table, unlike his conservative predecessors and the US Trump administration, which backs stronger sanctions and has threatened military action.

But Moon also has to navigate a complex web of regional issues.

Beijing – the North’s biggest trade partner and diplomatic protector – is infuriated over the deployment of a US missile defence system in the South, and Seoul is embroiled in a row with fellow US ally Tokyo over wartime history.

Moon had a 40-minute conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his spokesman Yoon Young-chan said, with the two agreeing denuclearising Pyongyang was a “common goal” between them.

China and South Korea enjoyed an increasingly warm relationship early in the tenure of Moon’s predecessor Park Geun-hye, drawn together by shared historical differences with Japan.

But ties have plummeted. Beijing sees the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, newly installed in the South intended to guard against threats from the North, as a threat to its own military capabilities and has slapped a series of measures against South Korean businesses seen as economic retaliation.

Moon called for “dialogue along with sanctions and pressure” on the North, Yoon said, and – echoing the United States’ line – suggested that Beijing should do more to tame Pyongyang.

Moon has previously expressed ambiv- alence over the THAAD system and told Xi he was “well aware” of Chinese concerns about it. The two leaders agreed to exchange special envoys “at an early date”, with Moon proposing sending a separate delegation to Beijing and Xi inviting him to visit, Yoon said.

Seoul and former colonial power Tokyo are both targeted by the North, but are in dispute over history and Park did not visit Japan while in office.

But in a 25-minute conversation, Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they hoped to meet at an early date and exchanged invitations to visit, according to both sides.

Historical issues should be overcome “wisely” and not hamper the countries’ relationship or efforts to deal with the North, the Blue House quoted Moon as saying. Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea but also China and other parts of Asia, were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II.

The plight of the “comfort women” has marred relations for decades but the two governments reached a “final and irreversible” deal in 2015, with Japan offering an apology and a payment to survivors.

But Korean critics said Japan did not go far enough under the deal, and earlier this year Tokyo recalled its ambassador over a statue symbolising the comfort women installed outside its consulate in Busan.

Moon told Abe that most Koreans could not accept the agreement, according to the Blue House, while Japan’s top government spokesmanYoshihide Suga said Abe told him it was “extremely important” to implement it.

The phone calls came a day after Moon and US President Donald Trump agreed on “close cooperation” over the North’s nuclear ambitions in their first conversation on Wednesday night.