Alwaght- South Korean President Moon Jae-in has recently called 0n North Korea to end its nuclear program as he set the conditions for starting bilateral negotiations between Seoul and Pyeongyang.
“North Korea has to stop its nuclear tests,” the South Korean leader said, adding “it also should release the American nationals imprisoned there", media quoted him as saying.
He further noted that his country could only hold diplomatic relations with Pyongyang when they see the North's leaders stop and stay committed to cessation of their nuclear program and testing their ballistic missiles that happens on a regular basis.
The South Korean foreign policy is largely influenced by the policy of the West and especially the US, its main backer in the region, except for the old feud with its southern neighbor Japan that mainly stems from the violence and abuses by the Japanese against the Koreans during Japan's colonialism and the late years of the Second World War.
This is perhaps the sole common point shared by the two Koreas. But the analysts agree that the conditions set for dialogue by Seoul are aimed at serving the American interests and goals. They argue that the main drive behind the negotiation conditions set by Seoul is more addressing the international US agenda than serving the South's own national interests.
Regarding China expanding its strength as it becomes an economic power in the recent years, the American foreign policy very tangibly headed to curbing Beijing power gain. The US shift to Southeast Asia can help to China isolation if it pushes for its regional allies' encirclement of Beijing. Besides, Washington can put the burden of any confrontation costs with North Korea on Japan and South Korea.
The US plans expanding its military presence in Asia from Japan and South Korea to Australia and New Zealand. This is beside the intention to add to the number of its military bases in other Asian countries like the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The US in 2016 leased Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay military port that was once leased to the Soviet Navy in the Soviet era.
South Korea and North’s threats costs
The US President Donald Trump’s attempts to paint Pyongyang as a threat to the global peace have given his country the chance to exploit the North Korean nuclear program for its creeping to areas close to China in a bid to accomplish the project to check Beijing as a rising power. While the world expected the US to withdraw its forces from the Korean Peninsula upon Trump’s assumption of office, he did just the reverse and ordered more troops deployed to the tense region.
The US recent weeks' warning of war with North Korea increased risks of a major nuclear confrontation in the Peninsula. However, the risks disappeared after the American leader backed down from his anti-Pyongyang fiery rhetoric. The American rhetoric against the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been reviewed recently and now Washington talks about possibility of sitting on the negotiating table with Pyongyang.
The two Koreas declined to establish diplomatic relations since division of Korea that followed the 1945 Allied forces' victory that ended Japanese empire's 35-year rule of Korea. The northern side several times threatened to strike the South with nuclear weapons. Pyongyang multiple times test fired nuclear-capable missiles. North Korea in January 2016 claimed testing a hydrogen bomb, arousing the ire of many countries as well as the United Nations that subsequently passed a resolution of sanctions on Pyongyang.
But as it appears and as many experts argue, the US anti-North threats are simply part of propaganda campaign and are serving other covert objectives. The Americans are well aware that the nuclear program of Pyongyang by no means poses a direct threat to the American territories and is only a pretext for the US to crawl into the backyard of China, the largest challenge to the global American hegemony. This American interference in Korean Peninsula looks justified at least to South Korea that once came under attacks of North Korea, China, and Japan in the 1950 Korean War, and thus feels uncompromisable need for the US protection.
The US deployed THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) air defense system to South's territories in demonstration of power and support for Seoul. In early March this year, the South Korean defense ministry announced arrival of first series of the US-supplied missile defense system in the South Geyongsang province. The system that is expected to be fully operational by end of 2017 is capable of destroying short and medium-range ballistic missiles.
However, the missile defense system has other uses as experts assert that the US intends to watch the Chinese military movement in the region by installing THAAD radar and missile systems. The US claimed that THAAD will address the North’s missile strikes threats but China strongly opposed its deployment, arguing that it can cover the Chinese deep airspace and so change the balance of power in favor of the US. Beijing called THAAD dispatch as jeopardizing its security interests as the system’s comprehensive warning segments can challenge the Chinese missile potentials. This by itself is a bigger challenge to Beijing plans to target the US military based in the Pacific once a war sparks. Russia, on the other side, joined the Chinese condemnation of THAAD deployment to South Korea.
Trade agreement as a divisive factor
Nevertheless, the US and its ally South Korea are not difference-free in every matter. Business proves a divisive issue between them. Right now, the most contentious issue between them is the US discomfort with the free trade agreement signed in 2010. Trump, blasting, reviewing, and revoking many of his predecessor Barack Obama's deals, has recently lashed out at the US-South Korea trade deal as a “disaster” and “job-killing” one.
Trump raised his displeasure with the deal during visit to Washington of the South Korean president in late June, noting that he will renegotiate the accord with Seoul. South Korea expressed concerns over challenging the free trade accord, calling the move an effort to justify protectionism policies by the US.
The US seeks more support for the American industries to strengthen them, as at the same time it wants the deal to create more jobs for the Americans. Seoul has tried to address the American concerns by announcing a plan to invest $13 billion in the US during the next 5 years. South Korean media, including the state-run Yonhap news agency, have described the idea of renegotiating the free trade agreement as “irrational” and a clear sign of preparation for trade protectionism.
South Korea is concerned over US adopting the blackmail theory. If the US seeks to make unilateral gains in the trade deal or cancel it, the two countries' military alliance will get negative impacts. The US is possibly trying to blackmail the government of Moon Jae-in: if you want Washington’s military support you have to make trade concessions. Trump had criticized the deal as causing heavy trade deficit for the US trade exchanges with South Korea.
The American administration eyes protectionist policies in favor of the country’s companies, especially the steel and carmakers. The American president hoped that he can fundamentally revise the trade agreement with Seoul in the future. If the agreement is amended and Seoul fails to save own interests, it will prove a commercial debacle for South Korea.
