Moon Jae-in Tacitly Endorses Pyongyang’s Brutality

How Seoul Tacitly Endorses Pyongyang’s Brutality
Moon Jae-in’s English statements sound nice, but his Korean speeches are akin to surrender.
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By Greg Scarlatoiu
Oct. 1, 2018 6:35 p.m. ET

Since President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s summit in June, the two leaders have issued a series of statements in English. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has weighed in too, with vague words promoting hope for denuclearization and a better life for the North Korean people. Yet Mr. Moon tells a different story in Korean.

Consider the speeches the South Korean president delivered in North Korea last month. At a dinner on Sept. 18, he declared he was “truly astonished by Pyongyang’s development.” He didn’t say how this “development” has had any positive effect on the North Korean people. Outside Pyongyang, North Koreans suffer. One third of North Korea’s children are malnourished while the regime focuses resources on nuclear warheads, missiles and luxuries to keep the elites content.

In his speech, Mr. Moon expressed hope that inter-Korean collaboration could “span across the continent to reach Russia and Europe, and across the sea to reach Asean and India.” He made no mention of the U.S. He also told Mr. Kim that if they “put their heads and hearts together,” they will find ways to develop the “military, economy, society and culture of South and North Korea.” Yet some 80% of North Korea’s military, 1.2 million strong, remains forward-deployed, poised to attack. North Korea’s long-range artillery stands ready to strike from the Kaesong Heights.

Mr. Moon also recalled that during his first in-person meeting with Mr. Kim, the two crossed the military demarcation line “hand in hand, like two affectionate lovers.” That’s nice, but since then Mr. Kim has done nothing to reduce the threat his country poses to its neighbor. And he continues to abuse more than 100,000 men, women and children in his notorious political prison camps.

The day after the dinner, Mr. Moon spoke before thousands of North Korea’s “core class,” gathered for a gymnastic and artistic festival. He used Mr. Kim’s exact locution in averring a joint commitment to a Korean Peninsula “without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.” The truth is that the South has been nuclear-free since 1991. It’s the North that needs to give up its weapons. To Mr. Kim, denuclearization of the “entire Korean Peninsula” means removing South Korea from the safety of the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Mr. Moon effectively announced support for Mr. Kim’s goal of ending the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

Mr. Moon also said his heart was “warmed and throbbing” at the sight of the country his North Korean brethren were building. He expressed admiration for North Koreans who maintained “the nation’s pride” even in tough times, possibly a reference to the famine of the 1990s. The truth is that when life-supporting aid to North Korea from allied communist countries stopped flowing in the ’90s, the regime failed to reform. Whatever precious resources it could obtain were given only to military and political elites. Those ranking lower in North Korea’s songbun system of social classification were condemned to starvation, their access to food, medicine and other aid severed. The regime blamed the U.S. and told its subjects that, despite the suffering, they maintained the nation’s pride throughout that “arduous march.” Mr. Moon’s words lent support to this fallacious tale.

The South Korean president stated that the two leaders had agreed to the principle of jaju-wonchik, or unification through self-determination. This principle is derived from North Korea’s juche ideology of self-reliance. A quick Korean-language internet search of the term will bring up North Korean propaganda websites such as Uriminzokkiri and the Korean Central News Agency. “Unification through self-determination” also excludes outsiders, especially the U.S.

Mr. Moon’s speeches may read like peace-building. But to those familiar with North Korean ideology, a speech tacitly endorsing juche only validates Mr. Kim’s brand of totalitarianism. It’s a statement of support for North Korean ideology and all that goes along with it, including nuclear weapons. Mr. Moon’s speech gave legitimacy to Mr. Kim’s corrupt and horrific rule.


Opposing the Pyongyang regime’s repression of the North Korean people and its threats to the South has become increasingly difficult with Mr. Moon in office. His government has reduced funding for organizations that promote human rights in the North by more than 90%, stopped balloon launches and loudspeaker broadcasting across the Demilitarized Zone and has been censoring the content of USB thumb drives smuggled by activists into North Korea. It is hard to imagine how Mr. Moon will ever move from warm praise of Mr. Kim to addressing the dire human-rights situation of North Koreans.

　北朝鮮の残忍な政権、その政権下で苦しんでいる庶民についてガン無視、それどころか、北朝鮮の人権問題を推進する団体への資金を９割削減してしまうような文在寅が大統領でいる限り、北朝鮮政権の国民弾圧、そして、韓国への脅威について、反対していくことは困難だろう、と。

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