KB News Desk
메인 사진 교체 필요
President Lee Jae Myung has cast South Korea as a “pacemaker” supporting US President Donald Trump’s efforts to become a “peacemaker” on the Korean Peninsula.
But as signs of possible renewed US-North Korea dialogue gather pace, concerns are growing that Seoul could instead find itself increasingly sidelined — particularly if Washington and Pyongyang move toward direct leader-level diplomacy on terms that leave South Korea’s own security concerns insufficiently reflected.
Lee proposed multilateral discussions aimed at moving the Korean Peninsula toward a peace regime in his Liberation Day address on Aug. 15. Five days later, on Thursday, he met visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and asked Beijing to maintain close strategic communication with Seoul on bilateral relations and Korean Peninsula issues.
The Lee administration has also repeatedly welcomed Trump’s outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arguing that renewed US-North Korea engagement could provide the momentum needed to halt Pyongyang’s expanding nuclear capabilities and eventually transform the peninsula’s decades-old armistice system.
Yet the same diplomatic opening carries risks for Seoul.
Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the latest statement from the North Korean leader’s influential sister, Kim Yo-jong, appeared designed not merely to criticize Seoul but to deny South Korea legitimacy as a participant in future Korean Peninsula diplomacy.
Kim Yo-jong on Thursday mocked Seoul over the reduction of the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, saying Trump’s sudden order had placed South Korea “in a poor plight of canceling ‘war games’ it liked very much.”
She also accused President Lee of making “double-dealing remarks” for welcoming the reduction while calling for an “independent buildup of military capabilities.” She described the abrupt scaling back of the exercise after it had begun as an unprecedented “trouble” for South Korea.
According to Hong, expressions describing South Korea as dependent on a foreign power serve to construct a broader argument that Seoul cannot be treated as a legitimate party to Korean Peninsula affairs.
He said the statement appeared intended to “preemptively prevent South Korean officials — including the president and ministers — from inserting themselves into the emerging situation as mediators or facilitators.”
Hong assessed that Washington, rather than Seoul, was the ultimate audience.
“By echoing Trump’s own emphasis on alliance costs and burden-sharing while directing its ridicule at South Korea, Pyongyang appears to be sending a message that future talks should proceed directly between Washington and Pyongyang without Seoul’s involvement,” he said.
Another North Korea expert pointed to the contrast in Kim Yo-jong’s messaging toward Washington and Seoul.
In her first statement released Wednesday, she dismissed the reduction of the UFS exercise while emphasizing that the personal relationship between Trump and Kim Jong-un remained positive. A day later, however, she sharply criticized South Korea, mocking Seoul over the scaled-down exercise and attacking Lee by name.
The contrasting tone has fueled speculation that Pyongyang is seeking to separate US-North Korea diplomacy from inter-Korean relations, leaving room for direct engagement with Washington while pushing Seoul to the sidelines.
Yang Moo-jin, a distinguished professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said Pyongyang was “attempting to drive a wedge into South Korea-US relations while developing a two-leader dialogue structure centered on Trump and Kim Jong-un.”
On the political front, the main opposition People Power Party has seized on concerns regarding Seoul’s role to step up criticism of the Lee administration, calling on the government to abandon what it described as an overly conciliatory approach toward Pyongyang.
People Power Party floor leader Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig said Friday that the administration should acknowledge what he called the failures of previous liberal governments’ North Korea policies and adopt an approach grounded in the reality of the North’s growing nuclear capabilities.
“Security must begin with a recognition of harsh realities,” Jeong said during a party meeting at the National Assembly. “No country in history has ever achieved peace by begging an enemy for it. Now that the advancement of North Korea’s nuclear capabilities has become a reality, we must build sufficient strength to pursue peace in the face of the North Korean nuclear threat.”
Jeong pointed to Trump’s recent reference to North Korea possessing 57 nuclear weapons and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back’s estimate that Pyongyang could possess around 80 to 100, arguing that the scale of the North’s nuclear buildup could no longer be ignored.
He particularly criticized Lee for expressing respect for Trump’s decision to reduce South Korea-US combined exercises as an effort to advance peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“What commander in chief of any country could be bypassed over the schedule of exercises with an ally and then welcome it like this?” Jeong said.
The People Power Party has argued that the abrupt reduction of the exercises raises questions about coordination within the alliance and could weaken Seoul’s security position at a time when Washington is signaling greater interest in direct engagement with Pyongyang.
Seoul pushes back against ‘Korea passing’
South Korea’s presidential office has likewise reaffirmed Lee’s pacemaker strategy despite Pyongyang’s criticisms.
“The government will consistently pursue a policy of peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula based on mutual respect,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday. “As a party directly concerned with peace on the Korean Peninsula, the government will also continue close coordination with the United States and make active efforts, in its role as a pacemaker, to facilitate the resumption of US-North Korea dialogue.”
The official also urged Pyongyang to stop directing derogatory remarks at the South Korean government and president.
A senior Unification Ministry official, requesting anonymity, said Friday that, with North Korea’s nuclear capabilities continuing to expand and inter-Korean relations at a standstill, renewed US-North Korea dialogue remains the most realistic mechanism for changing the situation.
“The more people use the phrase ‘South Korea being sidelined,’ the weaker our position becomes,” the official said.
The ministry official argued that US-North Korea talks could set in motion a broader effort to address the peninsula’s fundamental security structure and ultimately replace the armistice system with a peace regime.
“A peace regime is our most complete security asset,” the official said.
Rep. Park Jie-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea went further, arguing that South Korea being bypassed was effectively impossible because of the depth of coordination between Seoul and Washington.
“At least when it comes to North Korea issues, the South Korean and US governments thoroughly share information and complement each other, so there can be no such thing as South Korea being bypassed,” Park wrote on Facebook Friday.
Park predicted that a Trump-Kim summit was highly likely and said both leaders had incentives to engage: Trump in search of a foreign policy breakthrough and Kim in pursuit of improved ties with Washington, regime security and sanctions relief.
“A US-North Korea summit will take place. South Korea cannot be sidelined,” Park said.
