Yoon set to get tough on North
SEOUL: South Korea’s hawkish new president will be sworn in tomorrow, and he looks set to get tough with Pyongyang, departing from what he has called the “subservient” approach of his predecessor.
For the past five years, Seoul has pursued a policy of engagement with North Korea, brokering summits between Kim Jong-un and then-US president Donald Trump while reducing joint United States military drills Pyongyang sees as provocative.
But talks collapsed in 2019 and have languished since, while the nucleararmed North has dramatically ramped up weapons tests, conducting 15 so far this year, including the launch of its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile.
Unlike outgoing President Moon Jaein, who saw North Korea as a negotiating partner, incoming leader Yoon Sukyeol sees the country as an adversary, said Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korea Studies at the Sejong Institute.
Mr Yoon has pledged to officially define Pyongyang as South Korea’s “principal enemy”, Mr Cheong added, and has not ruled out pre-emptive strikes on the North.
This hard-line stance appears to have already annoyed Pyongyang.
On Thursday, North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said Mr Yoon was stirring up “confrontational madness” and it was “preposterous” for him to discuss pre-emptive strikes.
Mr Moon, who met Mr Kim four times while in office, sought to avoid harsh rhetorical exchanges with Pyongyang, prioritising engagement.
But Mr Cheong warned of a rough ride ahead and said he expected no summits.
Instead of delicate diplomacy, Mr Yoon wants the “complete and verifiable denuclearisation” of North Korea — something that is anathema to Mr Kim, said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Calling for Mr Kim to give up his nukes first is “too high a hurdle for the North to accept” and looks set to put a final nail in the coffin of Mr Moon’s cherished programme of engagement, Mr Hong told AFP.
Mr Yoon, an avowed anti-feminist, won the election in March by the narrowest margin ever, and has since backed off some of his more explosive domestic campaign promises, chiefly his vow to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality.
His firmer approach to North Korea, however, is already apparent: after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday, Mr Yoon’s team called it a “provocation”.
On the campaign trail, Mr Yoon called Mr Kim a “rude boy” and told voters earlier this year: “If you give me a chance, I will teach him some manners.”
His language harks back to 2017’s “fire and fury” era, when Mr Kim and Mr Trump traded insults through Twitter and state media.
South Korean activists also claim to have restarted sending propaganda balloons across the border, something Mr Moon banned during his term.