Moon calls for ‘peace economy’

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA » South Korea’s president on Monday described the country’s escalating trade war with Japan as a wakeup call to revamp its economy and issued a nationalistic call for economic cooperation with North Korea, which he said would allow the Koreas to erase Japan’s economic superiority in “one burst.”

President Moon Jae-in made the comments in a meeting with senior aides to discuss Japan’s imposition of trade curbs on South Korea. They came as a surprise since North Korea has raised tensions in recent weeks with tests of new short-range weapons that pose a threat to South Korea’s security.

“The advantage Japan’s economy has over us is the size of its (overall) economy and domestic market. If the South and North could create a peace economy through economic cooperation, we can catch up with Japan’s superiority in one burst,” Moon said in the meeting at Seoul’s presidential Blue House.

“Japan absolutely cannot prevent our economy from taking a leap. Rather, (Japan) will serve as a stimulant that strengthens our determination to become an economic power,” he said.

Moon’s claim that South Korea could overcome the trade dispute with Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, by cooperating with North Korea, a desperately poor nation currently under crippling U.N. sanctions, shows that he is running out of ideas for seeking leverage against Japan, which for decades has maintained a huge trade surplus with South Korea, some analysts said.

Even if economic cooperation between the Koreas fully resumes after quick progress in nuclear diplomacy — which looks increasingly unlikely — rebuilding the North’s economy following decades of isolation and policy blunders could be a long and excruciating process.

Opposition lawmaker Lee Manhee, spokesman for the conservative Liberty Korea Party, said Moon’s comments were shocking and delusional.ECONOMY

“After refusing to issue a single warning over North Korea’s