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Moon Chung-in

Special advisor on unification, foreign affairs, and security Moon Chung-in said Seoul “may discuss” reducing US strategic asset deployment and downscaling joint military exercises with Washington if Pyongyang halts its nuclear and missile activities. Moon stressed that he was “a non-permanent advisor speaking from what I have observed, not representing the government’s position.” The Blue House has also said his remarks are not the administration’s official position. But because he is a special advisor, his comments on issues directly involving Washington have become a source of controversy.

Moon’s remarks came during a seminar and talk with South Korean correspondents in Washington on June 16 organized by the East Asia Foundation and Woodrow Wilson Center. Moon explained that if strategic assets are reduced, it might be possible to downscale strategic weapons such as aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines that have been included in the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises since the Yeonpyeong Island shelling in 2010. He also presented linkages to North Korea’s denuclearization and establishment of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula as another of President Moon Jae-in’s proposals.

Moon Chung-in’s remarks could be seen as a fleshed-out version of Moon Jae-in’s comments in a commemorative address for the 17th anniversary of the June 15 Inter-Korean Joint Declaration of 2000. Where the President talked about how Seoul “could engage in unconditional dialogue if North Korea refrains for additional nuclear and missile provocations,” Moon Chung-in added details about what the terms could be.

This is a historical moment that urgently calls for a shift from tensions to dialogue on the Korean Peninsula. The North Korea policies during the nine years of the Lee Myung-bak (2008-13) and Park Geun-hye (2013-16) administrations, which were focused solely on sanctions and pressure, not only did nothing to stop nuclear and missile testing by North Korea, but only made the crisis worse. For this reason, many are saying we should lay the groundwork for detente and proceed toward a more concrete intermediate stage - such as a freeze and abandonment of nuclear and missile activities - even as we make it clear our ultimate goal is denuclearization. This is contingent on Pyongyang showing a minimal willingness to stop its provocations and abide by international norms.

What Moon Chung-in referred to could be viewed as one of many solutions experts have proposed in their emphasis on the “process” of denuclearization. It’s an overreaction for the political opposition to go on the offensive as it has with its claims of bowing to the North’s pressure and jeopardize the South Korea-US alliance and national security. That said, it does not seem very cautious for such sensitive information to be coming from a special advisor just ten days before a South Korea-US summit. The important thing right now is building a domestic and international consensus toward dialogue.

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