S. Korea undergoes political upheaval
President’s ouster opens doors for liberal takeover
SEOUL, South Korea — Their foes have called them blindly naive, closet North Korea followers and anti-American — an unsettling slight in South Korea, where the U.S. alliance has been the military bedrock for seven decades.
Now South Korea’s liberal opposition leaders are on the verge of retaking the presidency with the historic court ruling Friday that ousted their conservative enemy, President Park Geun-hye, who had been impeached in a corruption scandal.
Their presidential hopeful, Moon Jae-in, wants a profound change in the country’s tense relations with North Korea, advocating outreach and dialogue.
Moon and his liberal partners are especially worried about a new antimissile shield the Americans are installing in South Korea, citing China’s fury over it and warning of a standoff reminiscent of the Cuban missile crisis.
The challenges for Moon and his liberal partners as they push to reclaim power in elections scheduled for May will be how to engage with a far more dangerous North Korea, maintain close ties with the United States, and repair relations with China.
Moon has said the alliance with Washington is “a pillar of our diplomacy.” But he also said South Korea should learn to “say ‘No’ to the Americans.”
Moon’s ascent could complicate the American rush this past week to deploy the new advanced missile-defense system, known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.
He and his liberal associates have called it an unnecessary escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
As of Friday, the Trump administration had said nothing publicly about Park’s removal and its implications. But Trump’s U.N. envoy, Nikki R. Haley, made clear this week that she sees no point in dialogue with North Korea’s leader, whom she described as “not rational,” and that the THAAD was not directed at China.
Moon said he abhorred “the ruthless dictatorial regime of North Korea.”
But he also said sanctions the United States had enforced with the conservatives in South Korea had failed to stop North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
“We must embrace the North Korean people as part of the Korean nation, and to do that, whether we like it or not, we must recognize Kim Jong Un as their ruler and as our dialogue partner,” Moon said.