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President Moon Jae-in speaks at an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Oct. 4 summit agreement. In his address

The fourth of October ten years ago was the historic day when former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Moon Jae-in became South Korea’s first sitting president to attend the ceremony commemorating the Oct. 4 summit statement, but he did not make a new proposals to North Korea. Instead, he revealed his intention to keep pushing for the primary objectives of the plan for peace on the Korean Peninsula that he outlined in the Berlin Declaration while focusing on managing the “unprecedented security crisis” caused by North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations.

During his congratulatory address at the ceremony commemorating the Oct 4. inter-Korean summit statement, Moon reiterated his commitment to peace and to the importance of crisis management. The ceremony was held at the 63 Convention Center, in Yeouido, Seoul, and was jointly hosted by the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, the Unification Ministry and the city of Seoul.

Because of the tense conflict between North Korea and the US resulting from the North’s repeated nuclear and missile provocations, Moon said that “peace on the Korean Peninsula is in crisis” and that “right now, our priority is the people’s safety and managing the crisis peacefully.” Moon essentially reconfirmed that the priorities of his North Korean policy are keeping the peace and deterring war while emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

“The South Korean government will secure a military deterrent while cooperating with the international community to ensure that tensions are not raised excessively and that a military clash does not occur,” Moon said.

“Many of the matters agreed upon in the Oct. 4 summit statement can be implemented even now. I hope that both North and South Korea will declare that the Oct. 4 summit statement remains valid,” Moon went on to say. More specifically, he once again called for the restoration of military talks, humanitarian cooperation and the reunions of the families divided by the Korean War. Restoring military talks was particularly urgent, Moon said, “to relax inter-Korean tensions.”

“I urge Kim Jong-un and the North Korean authorities to halt their nuclear and missile provocations and to return to the spirit of the Oct. 4 summit statement,” he added.

Moon said that inter-Korean relations today “have regressed to the period before the July 4 inter-Korean joint statement in 1972,” reflecting the fact that the security environment on the Korean Peninsula has become more dire than at any time since the Korean War. Since basically all channels of communication with North Korea have been cut, Moon believes that the top priority is focusing on preventing an unintended clash from escalating into a war on the Korean Peninsula.

During his keynote address before the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 21, Moon quoted former US President Ronald Reagan, who once said that “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” While preparing the draft of Moon’s congratulatory address, the Blue House reportedly weighed the option of including additional proposals that could lead to dialogue with North Korea but eventually decided to focus on the message of “crisis management.”

But even in his address, Moon emphatically stated that “What is clear is the fact that the journey of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula must not end whatever difficulties there may be. The international community is also repeatedly confirming the principle of a peaceful solution.”

Moon emphasized that “returning to the spirit of the Oct. 4 summit statement,” a point he has reiterated since his presidential campaign, is still the key to solving the Korean Peninsula issue. “The only way to return to the Oct. 4 spirit is by overcoming this crisis,” Moon said in the address.

“If North Korea stops making rash choices, the table of dialogue and negotiations is always open,” Moon said in connection with this point. This remark was a step back from the message he sent in his Berlin Declaration in July (“Now that the vicious cycle of military tensions has reached its limit, the need for dialogue is greater than any time in the past”) or during his commemorative address on Liberation Day (“Sanctions and dialogue with North Korea are not mutually exclusive. It’s when sanctions have been accompanied by dialogue that the solutions to problems have been found.”), but it did not write off the possibility of dialogue.

Instead of making a new proposal to North Korea in his address, Moon only mentioned once again restoring military talks and the issue of reunions for the divided families, which he had already proposed from a humanitarian perspective in order to relax tensions. This is likely because Moon is keenly aware that Seoul has limited options available to it amid the tense standoff between North Korea and the US.

“Since the harsh war of words between North Korea and the US has heightened the sense of crisis, it was probably not practical for President Moon to emphasize dialogue,” said an expert in diplomacy and security who served in the administration of Roh Moo-hyun. The expert also noted that “while it’s largely the fault of externally produced circumstances, I get the feeling that the new government’s foreign policy and security policy are in total chaos.”

By Lee Jung-ae and Jung In-hwan, staff reporters

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