[Son's Korea Talk, 2022.06.13) "A Time for Cooperation between South Korea and the United States toward a Unified Korean Peninsula"

A Time for Cooperation between South Korea and the United States toward a Unified Korean Peninsula


Prof. Dr. Son Gi-woong
President, Korea Institute for Peace and Cooperation
former President, Korea Institute for National Unification


There has been a change in Kim Jong-un's maneuver. At the expanded plenary session of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of North Korea held on June 8-10, Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon was transferred to the head of the United Front Department, and Choe Son-hui took over as Foreign Minister. Although both are negotiators, Ri Son-gwon is at the heart of the hardliners against South Korea.

Ri Son-gwon, a former military veteran, served most of the time at the Korean People's Army (KPA) delegation at Panmunjom, and served as the North Korean representative for working-level military talks, general-level talks, and high-level talks. He, along with Kim Yong-chol, is a person suspected of being behind the sinking of the Cheonan, and he is the one who faced off with Korean businessmen who accompanied the South-North summit in Pyongyang in 2018, rebuking, “Does naengmyeon (cold noodles) go down your throat?” The fact that a former military officer in charge of South Korea was in charge of foreign affairs showed Kim Jong-un's trust in him, and there is a clear intention of Kim Jong-un in pushing out Kim Yong-chol and  appointing Ri Son-gwon as general manager in charge of South Korea.

Choe Son-hui, who became North Korea's first female foreign minister, is a former director of the U.S. Bureau and vice-minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was at the forefront of negotiations with the United States, as she played a key role in the Kim Jong-un-Trump summits in 2018 and 2019. She returned with her promotion after she was excluded from the State Council after the Hanoi summit failed. Using North Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, also a professional diplomat, as a window for dialogue with the US, Minister Choe is likely to unofficially and informally knock on the door of the United States.

With this appointment as an opportunity, Kim Jong-un set a counter-fire against the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and signaled the Biden administration to resume negotiations.

First, Kim Jong-un is expected to face the Yoon administration with a stronger counter-response. He wants to show that there is no change in his will and line, and at the same time create an environment for the resumption of North Korea-US dialogue by escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He judged that it was the Yoon government that had no choice but to move within the framework of the United States. Considering Biden's domestic political schedule ahead of the midterm elections in November, this is the reason why Ri Son-gwon, relatively more aggressive than Kim Yong-chol, who was now too thoughtful and cunning, was appointed as the head of the United Front Department.

Second, Kim Jong-un is expected to seek resumption of negotiations with the US cautiously. The United States is emphasizing US-Japan-South Korea cooperation against North Korea, and is strongly warning of an imminent seventh nuclear test by North Korea. At the same time, conversation attempts are continuing. On June 9, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan reaffirmed the Biden's administration's previous position that it hopes for high-level dialogue with North Korea without preconditions. North Korea and the United States are showing their willingness to engage in dialogue, either ahead or behind.

In a situation where North Korea's strategy to engage in direct dialogue with the US and exclude South Korea, to deal with the new South Korean government strongly and flexibly with the United States is becoming visible, it is necessary to examine the ROK-US relationship. It is time for the two countries to honestly discuss the long-term national agenda.

There was no trust in South Korea-US relations during the Moon Jae-in administration. The United States did not believe in President Moon Jae-in and the regime, which did not speak of free and democratic order and closed their mouths to the freedom and human rights of the North Korean people. The popular opinion of the United States was that they acted as a 'North Korean spokesperson' rather than a mediator between North Korea and the United States. The alliance was creaking, and despite President Moon's earnest request through his visit to the United States, the US's support for coronavirus vaccines for only 500,000 people showed the current status of South Korea and the US at the time.

The strategic direction of the new South Korean government, which seeks to rebuild the ROK-US alliance and expand and evolve from a military alliance to an economic alliance and a value alliance, is correct. Ahead of successive ballistic missile launches and possibility of nuclear tests, South Korea-US military exercises and strengthening military responses are also necessary. Regular dialogues and meetings between the heads of the ROK-US National Security Office, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also appropriate.

However, it should not be forgotten that there are limits to the strengthening of ROK-US cooperation. How much can South Korea's position, role, and opinions be reflected? There is a huge difference in national power and military power between the superpower United States and South Korea. South Korea's geopolitical situation is quite different from that of the United States, where South Korea is realistically and directly exposed to the threat of North Korea, and China and Russia are standing nearby.

Moreover, the national task of 'unification' in addition to securing national security is invariably placed for South Korea. It is clear that South Korea and the United States have a common interest in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. However, the question is whether the United States can sympathize and support unification, which means a change in the topography of the Korean Peninsula, which can bring Korean true peace, from the level of national interest.

President Yoon Suk-yeol and the government, who emphasize the common values of freedom, democracy, and human rights between South Korea and the United States, must reach an agreement with the United States to realize these values throughout the Korean Peninsula, and work out short-, medium- and long-term national strategies together. Based on a common vision, each role and policy plan should be prepared in detail, and proceed step by step from the current situation.

It is true that there was and is still a lot of dissonance and criticism in the process of the emergence of the United States as a world empire. Nevertheless, the reason why the United States is recognized and functioning as a world leader and a world police force is that the United States is based on its founding ideology and universal values of freedom, democracy, and human rights.

The current situation of dictator Kim Jong-un, who is being sanctioned by the international community for his provocations, and where food shortages and infectious diseases overlap with the structural and chronic problems of the Juche system, is the right time to lead change in North Korea. Now is the time for a serious South Korea-US dialogue on how to realize mutual sympathy and consensus on the Korean Peninsula, which is united on the basis of freedom, democracy, and human rights. In such a case, the strengthening of ROK-US alliance will not be over-emphasized.

First of all, the most urgent task at this time is to closely monitor the North Korean provocations and to prepare systematically a response to it at the domestic, ROK-US relations, and international level. It must be shown that President Yoon's declaration that he will respond decisively to any provocation is not just words. Ahead of June 25, when North Korea invaded South Korea 72 years ago, saying it was a holy war for national liberation, and July 27, the day of the armistice agreement signing, when North Korea claimed to have won the war 69 years ago, the stage for the Yoon administration's North Korea policy test is approaching.




Prof. Dr. Son, Gi-Woong is President of the Korea Institute for Peace and Cooperation, of the Korean Association of DMZ Studies and Visiting Professor of the Tianjin Foreign Studies University, China. He was President of the Korea Institute for National Unification, Vice-President of the Korean Association of International Studies, Vice-President of the Korean Political Science Association, Adjunct Professor of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Associate Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, England. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin, Germany in 1992. He experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall on the spot.