Koreans turn down the volume
President Trump began the new year with an apocalyptic Twitter outburst, taunting the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, that “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
Meanwhile, like an adult trying to carry on an intelligent conversation while a child is having a tantrum, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has tried to resume direct engagement with Pyongyang, which was cut off nearly two years ago. It provided at least a dim glimmer of hope that the North Korean nuclear arms crisis can be resolved peacefully.
It’s a move that requires patience and humility, qualities Mr. Trump generally lacks. The North Koreans have long made clear that they view South Korea as a lackey of their chief adversary, the United States. Yet since his inauguration in May, Mr. Moon has called for dialogue with the North, which severed all communications with Seoul in 2016 after Mr. Moon’s conservative predecessor shuttered an industrial complex in the North.
Mr. Moon has been pressing Pyongyang for months to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics his nation is hosting next month. The proposal was
editorial effectively ignored until Mr. Kim used his annual New Year’s Day speech to signal he was “open to dialogue” with the South to discuss easing military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, as well as to sending North Korean athletes to join the Games.
Mr. Moon quickly took advantage of the opening, proposing that highlevel negotiators meet next Tuesday at the village of Panmunjom at the demilitarized zone on the border. On Wednesday, the North agreed to South Korea’s suggestions to reopen a hotline at the DMZ, restoring a communications channel that let the two sides talk directly if tensions rose. The need has never been clearer than now, as Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim trade threats and inflame regional tensions.
There is reason to be wary of Mr. Kim’s intentions, given his history of ruthlessness and threats to launch a weapon against the United States, including the rant that preceded Mr. Trump’s belligerent tweet. By expressing interest in talks with South Korea, Mr. Kim may be trying to drive a wedge between Mr. Moon and Mr. Trump, who has largely rejected negotiations in favor of crippling sanctions and dangerous bombast against the
Turn to page 14