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President Moon Jae-in talks on the phone with US President Donald Trump

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald-Trump discussed a joint response to Korean Peninsula security issues, including North Korea’s repeated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launches, in a 56-minute telephone conversation on the morning of Aug. 7.

The conversation came in the wake of the UN Security Council adopting a North Korean sanctions resolution of unprecedented severity, and amid rhetoric in the US about “preventive war” and “preemptive strikes” against North Korea. Moon expressed his agreement with “tough pressure and sanctions,” while stressing that a “peaceful, diplomatic resolution” should ultimately be attempted.

In a briefing, Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun explained, “South Korea and the US agreed that they should coordinate closely on applying the maximum pressure and sanctions against North Korea with the cooperation of the international community so that North Korea makes the right choice to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.”

But while Trump stressed the importance of a firm position in favor of international coordination in the telephone conversation, Moon’s emphasis was on a peaceful diplomatic resolution.

During the conversation, Trump was quoted as calling for a “firm position, including imposing tough pressure and sanctions to bring about a change in North Korea‘s attitude.”

In response, Moon said Washington and Seoul “need to work together to use their power advantage to apply intense pressure and sanctions to bring North Korea to the table to negotiate denuclearization, while also showing the door to dialogue is open if North Korea makes the right choice to give up its nuclear program.”

“We cannot tolerate the horror of war happening again on the Korean Peninsula,” he stressed.

Moon also emphasized a peaceful diplomatic resolution to Korean Peninsula issues in a 23-minute telephone conversation that afternoon with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In his briefing, Park explained that the two had “agreed on South Korea-Japan and South Korea-US-Japan cooperation to deter and respond to additional North Korean provocations in anticipation of potential provocations around the time of the South Korea-US joint military exercises scheduled for late August.”

Abe was quoted as saying that there “obviously needs to be dialogue in the end to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issues, but for now we need to apply pressure on North Korea to come out for dialogue.”

Among the areas discussed in Moon and Trump’s conversation, Moon’s emphasis on separating dialogue into two forms - dialogue in connection with the nuclear and missile issue and dialogue for humanitarian purposes and managing tensions - is particularly noteworthy. When asked by Trump about Pyongyang’s response to his proposal for military and Red Cross talks with North Korea as a follow-up measure for his “Berlin vision,” Moon replied, “The essence of the dialogue I proposed was to prevent unintended clashes and relax tensions through the humanitarian measure of divided family reunions and restoration of a hotline, not about North Korea’s nuclear and missile [programs],” a Blue House source said.

“President Moon has talked before about ’two tracks‘ on North Korea issues,” the same source said.

“He was making it clear that the international community, and the US in particular, is responsible for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, while South Korea should take the initiative on addressing inter-Korean relations and other humanitarian issues, and he was clearly drawing that boundary once again for President Trump.”

Even as he continues to leave the door open for inter-Korean dialogue, Moon also appears to have taken one step closer to coordinating with the international community on a US-led response to North Korea. While he has ruled out a military response that could lead to war, he looks to be actively pursuing other forms of pressure on Pyongyang. Moon also asked for Trump’s attention and support on the matter of South Korea beefing up its military strength with nuclear-powered submarines and amendment of missile guidelines.

By Kim Bo-hyeop and Lee Jung-ae, staff reporters

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