[Yonhap Photo]
Wearing a yellow necktie favored by his political soul mate, South Korean President Moon Jae-in evoked a period of cross-border rapprochement pushed by the late father of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, urging him to follow suit.
A joint declaration, issued by former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il at their landmark summit in Pyongyang in October 2007, is still valid, Moon said, accusing his two conservative predecessors to bringing inter-Korean ties to "complete rupture" during their 10-year rule.
In a speech marking the 10th anniversary of the 2007 summit Tuesday, Moon urged Kim Jong-un to honor the declaration that was once considered a milestone in reconciliation as the late leaders of the two Koreas pledged to seek a peace treaty while boosting cross-border cooperation and exchanges.
"The landscape of peace on the Korean Peninsula today would have been quite different" if the declaration was implemented faithfully, Moon said, calling for the resumption of regular military talks on easing tensions along the heavily armed border.
Roh became the first South Korean president to cross the border by foot for talks with a North Korean leader. During Roh's presidency (2003-2008), however, there had been a considerable diplomatic dissonance between Seoul and Washington, with Washington depicting him as anti-American.
Moon, who served as Roh's chief presidential aide and inherited his policies, has portrayed himself as a moderate and rational figure but opponents often likened him to Roh, who advocated cross-border reconciliation and anti-U.S. nationalism.
Moon's proposal for the resumption of military talks seems untimely as Kim Jong-un locked horns with U.S. President Donald Trump in an escalating war of nerves that apparently bypassed Seoul.
Just hours after Moon's speech, Trump fired a fresh broadside at Kim, saying Washington is "totally prepared" to use military options in North Korea, a day after Pyongyang threatened to shoot down American bombers even in international airspace.
"We are totally prepared for the second option. Not a preferred option, but if we take that option, it will be devastating -- I can tell you that -- devastating for North Korea," Trump said. "That's called the military option. If we have to take it, we will." Trump slammed Kim for acting "very badly" and saying "things that should never, ever be said".
Trump's unbridled remarks raised widespread concerns in South Korea.Woo Sang-ho, a leading lawmaker of Moon's ruling Democratic Party, accused the US president of heightening tensions on the Korean peninsula.
"President Donald Trump should exercise restraint," Woo told a radio talkshow on Wednesday. "No matter how messed up Kim Jung-un is, it is quite dangerous for the US president to talk wild and threaten him." The lawmaker warned that a US preemptive strike against North Korea would spark "a full-scale war" between the two Koreas, which are still technically at war with no peace treaty signed at the end of their 1950-53 conflict.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
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