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An image released on Sept. 16 by the Korean Central News Agency shows the launch of an intermediate range ballistic missile

President Moon Jae-in departed from Seoul on September 18 for the UN General Assembly. After President Moon’s first speech at the UN General Assembly, he will participate in a summit between South Korea, the United States and Japan. Whatever else anyone says, the core issue in this year’s General Assembly will be the North Korean nuclear problem. North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb and fired intermediate-range ballistic missiles ahead of the General Assembly, and the Security Council unanimously decided on the resolution of a new set of sanctions against North Korea following the country’s sixth nuclear test earlier this month. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the North Korean nuclear threat as the most dangerous crisis facing the world today.

Given that the North Korean nuclear issue directly concerns South Korea, the rest world will be paying close attention to President Moon’s General Assembly speech. It is likely that President Moon is also deeply concerned about what his speech should cover. It’s true that in a sensitive situation where North Korea is launching ballistic missiles despite UN resolutions, South Korea’s range of options is considerably narrow.

South Korea must also take into account the Trump Administration, which has even discussed military options against North Korea. The U.S. media reported that in his UN speech, Trump is expected to strongly demand that other countries, including China and Russia, also intensify pressure against North Korea. Insofar as the Security Council members were unanimous in their vote for the new resolution, President Moon can only urge the rest of the world to adhere fully and substantially to the resolution. But he also needs to clearly convey to world leaders that sanctions must only serve as a lead in opening the door to dialogue. This is because the North Korean nuclear crisis, from a global perspective, represents an extremely grave situation that, by disrupting stability in northeast Asia, could pose a threat to the peace of the world as a whole.

It is crucial that President Moon convinces world leaders that solving the North Korean nuclear problem with dialogue and peaceful approaches rather than military conflict is in accordance with the global interest. This year’s UN General Assembly must be a forum in which the current administration’s North Korea policy direction receives the support of the rest of the world, and is not portrayed as ineffectual talking, as Trump said, but rather as a necessary step in the direction of peace.

Realistically it’s difficult to deny that now is the time to focus on sanctions against North Korea, through increasing cooperation with the US and the added participation of China and Russia. But the unilateral foreign policy that Trump aspires to differs in many ways from the desire for peace and coexistence found in other countries. We run the risk of alienating the rest of the world by aligning ourselves exclusively with the US. The hope is that this represents an opportunity to receive global recognition for the strategy of simultaneous pressure and dialogue which has been consistently put forward in the UN General Assembly, as well as in the Berlin Declaration.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]