South Korea's Moon Becomes Kim Jong Un's Top Spokesman at UN
While North Korea’s foreign minister is set to address the UN on Saturday, Moon was already busy making the case for the country.
(Bloomberg) -- While Kim Jong Un isn’t attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, he had what amounted to a de facto spokesman singing his praises: South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
In speeches and television appearances, Moon -- who has held three summits this year with Kim -- portrayed the North Korean autocrat as a normal world leader who wants to bring economic prosperity to his people. He made no mention of atrocities that prompted President Donald Trump to call North Korea a “cruel dictatorship” during his State of the Union address in January.
“You must have watched on the TV, but based on what I experienced, Kim Jong Un is young, very candid and polite, treating the elders with respect,” Moon told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I believe that Kim Jong Un is sincere and he will abandon nuclear weapons in exchange of economic development.”
Moon is looking to convince skeptics in the U.S. and around the world that North Korea is now serious about wanting to give up its nuclear weapons after decades of provocation and failing to deliver on promises.
"Moon knows Kim has not yet met U.S. expectations and is worried about whether the U.S.-North Korea process can get started and stay on track," said Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dramatic Shifts
Besides preventing a war on the Korean Peninsula, Moon has a lot at stake politically: His approval rating rebounded after last week’s summit, helping offset a recent drop due to a struggling economy.
Compared to last year, the general attitude toward North Korea at the UN General Assembly has shifted dramatically. In 2017, North Korea had just completed its sixth nuclear test, and the Security Council imposed new sanctions against the North’s provocation. Trump called Kim a “rocket man on a suicide mission.”
This year, Trump thanked Kim for “his courage and the steps he has taken” in a much more subdued speech. While North Korea’s foreign minister is set to address the UN on Saturday, Moon was already busy making the case for the country.
‘Please Trust’
“Kim Jong Un said that he is well aware that a lot of people in the world still cannot trust North Korea or think North Korea is deceiving or trying to buy time, even after it took several steps to denuclearize,” Moon said. “But what can North Korea gain from deceiving or buying time?” Moon said quoting Kim.
Moon more than likely is also targeting a more narrow audience, as Stephen Noerper, Senior Director for Policy at Korea Society, sees it, as Moon’s agenda involves another significant player on the world stage.
“I don’t think of Moon as Kim’s spokesperson, but rather a leader who realizes he needs both Kim and Trump amenable to agreement,” said Noerper. Moon’s approach “risks accusations of compromise, but in reality is geared toward effectively managing two outsized egos.”
In Pyongyang last week, North Korea said it would dismantle its missile-test site and a launching pad in the presence of international experts. It added that it would be willing to take further steps to end its nuclear programs such as closing its nuclear test site, if the U.S. takes unspecified corresponding measures and honors the agreement signed in June at the first-ever summit between leaders of North Korea and the U.S.
Critics panned the latest agreement between the Koreas, saying it lacked any specifics and raised a host of questions. While Moon said it’s "natural" to be suspicious of Kim’s motivation given the North’s past failures to live up to its denuclearization agreements, he added that this time it was "completely different."
"This time, please trust North Korea’s sincerity, Kim said," Moon said, adding that the North Korean leader agreed to live broadcasting at the summits. "By live broadcasting all the process of the summit, I tried to have people around the world see Chairman Kim Jong Un and what kind of person he is with their eyes."
To contact the reporter on this story: Youkyung Lee in New York at ylee582@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten Kate, Robert Jameson
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