Kiwook Shin Professor, Stanford University
“The US and North Korea will raise human rights issues in earnest”
“It is not easy to lift sanctions against North Korea this year”
“The US should try a vaccine approach to North Korea”
“We need to go back to the basics of diplomacy and recheck”
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Shin Ki-wook, Stanford University professor and director of the Asia Pacific Research Institute, pointed out that the Moon Jae-in administration lost its diplomatic strategy and direction in the course of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue and conflict with Japan. In the case of the United States, as the international situation has changed since the administration of Joe Biden, it is necessary to re-examine the existing approach rather than unreasonable policies for the remaining one year in office.
Director Shin said in a telephone interview with the Seoul Economic Daily on the 13th (local time), saying, “The Moon Jae-in administration has put (diplomatic) emphasis on North Korea.”
He said, “In fact, the situation became strange because President Moon asked for a conversation with Japan in verse 3 and 1. It is not that we will fight like that with Japan or North Korea, but what would the Japanese government think if we asked to do it again?
Former US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un adopted a top-down upward diplomatic approach. It was also the most interested in North Korea among all the presidents of the United States. Having taken the form of a one-on-one discussion with China, he was relatively indifferent to the conflict between Korea and Japan.
However, the situation changed after President Biden took office. He values the trilateral alliance between Korea, the United States and Japan, and has a willingness to solve the North Korean problem, but he has a deep distrust of the North Korean regime. Human rights issues are also taken seriously. “Now, relations with Japan have been twisted, and the defense cost issue was okay because Biden took a more traditional approach than former President Trump, but in this way (the Korean government) will be very isolated in a few more years.” .
This problem is also revealed in the’Quad’, a security consultative body in the United States, Japan, Australia and India. Currently, there are discussions about joining Korea for’Quad Plus’, an extension of’Quad’, but until then, the Moon Jae-in administration was negative about joining the Quad. Director Shin said, “In Asia, the two pillars of the biden government, the public policy and the quad, are likely to be the two pillars of the Biden government.” “Now we have lost our diplomatic strategy and direction. In a way, there is no direction right now.”
He believes that it will not be easy to lift sanctions against North Korea. Director Shin said, “This is not a simple problem,” he said. “It hasn’t been raised yet, but the United States will eventually talk about the human rights issue in North Korea.” He added, “In this case, the US and North Korea have no choice but to engage in a nervous war. In this situation, it is difficult to lift sanctions against North Korea within this year.”
However, his advice is that talks with North Korea could turn into a new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine. Director Shin said, “I have recently made a suggestion that what would happen if the US would take a vaccine approach to North Korea. By the summer, the US will get almost all of the vaccines, and we will be able to secure enough 20 million North Koreans. did.
Of course, it is unclear whether such a concept will become a reality. “Even if the vaccine approach works well, Korea is in a state of entering the presidential election phase,” he said. “In reality, there is not much that can be done right now, so the Moon Jae-in administration will be frustrated. “I’m going to do something during the Tokyo Olympics, but it’s not easy.”
As a result, Director Shin emphasized that the South Korean government should not be greedy about the North Korean issue and re-adjust the overall diplomatic strategy and direction. He said, “President Biden has a lot of domestic problems and has a quad, so it is not a condition to do anything with Korea, and Japan will not pay much attention to Korea.” . It would be better to go back to the basics, check diplomacy, and hand over what the next government can do.”
/New York = Correspondent Kim Young-pil [email protected]
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