[Editorial] S. Korea-US joint exercises need to be delayed to enable bold change in inter-Korean dialogue

Posted on : 2020-07-22 17:49 KST Modified on : 2020-07-22 17:49 KST
Lee In-young, nominee for South Korean unification minister, speaks during a press conference in front of the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul on July 21. (Park Jong-shik, staff photographer)
Lee In-young, nominee for South Korean unification minister, speaks during a press conference in front of the Office of Inter-Korean Dialogue in Seoul on July 21. (Park Jong-shik, staff photographer)

Lee In-young, nominee for South Korean unification minister, openly called for a delay of South Korea-US joint military exercises scheduled for August. “As for my personal position, it’s true that I think [the joint exercises] should be delayed,” Lee said during a brief press conference on July 21. “We should make a strategically flexible decision that takes into account both the Defense Ministry’s needs and the containment of COVID-19.” Though Lee remains a nominee for now, this is the first time someone close to the government has officially expressed the need to delay the joint military exercises.

“In regard to feeding people, treating them when they’re sick, and reuniting them with their loved ones before they die, I would pursue policy based on our independent judgment without discussing that in the South Korea-US Working Group,” Lee said. Without waiting for American approval through the working group, he hopes to “immediately pursue” food and fertilizer aid, pharmaceutical and medical aid, and reunions for families divided by the Korean War in order to pave the way to “restoring dialogue” and “implementing agreements and promises.”

Lee also unveiled a modest plan for trading in kind, such as exchanging “our rice and medicine for the water of Mt. Kumgang and Mt. Baekdu and the alcohol of the Daedong River.” He deserves credit for a creative idea that could prime the pump for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation amid UN and US sanctions against the North. “In the long term, we need to move toward setting up reciprocal missions in Pyongyang and Seoul,” Lee said in a response submitted to the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Tuesday.

If Lee becomes Unification Minister, we hope he will boldly pursue these plans and create meaningful change in inter-Korean relations. Those tasks have already been deferred for far too long. Given the current state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula, change should begin with delaying the South Korea-US joint military exercises scheduled for the middle of next month.

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper failed to reach a conclusion about the exercises in a telephone call on Tuesday. Given the schedule of the transfer of wartime operational control of South Korean forces, the Ministry of National Defense holds that the exercises should be held, and the US also wants them held to assess joint defense readiness.

But considering the severe outbreak of COVID-19 in the US, bringing a large number of American troops into South Korea could be extremely dangerous. After coordinating disagreements between various departments, the Blue House’s National Security Office needs to quickly reach a conclusion about delaying the exercises. That would send a positive signal to North Korea about breaking through the current impasse in inter-Korean relations. It would also empower the government’s new foreign policy and national security team to initiate bold change.

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

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