[News Focus] Moon’s G-20 attendance pivots on N. Korea issues

HAMBURG, Germany -- The 12th annual Group of 20 summit, which took place in Germany’s Hamburg on Friday and Saturday, served as a timely stage for President Moon Jae-in to make his multinational diplomacy debut and be heard on the North Korea issue.

Challenges, however, continued to shadow the South Korean leader as he recognized some vital disparity with partner states over key issues.

The main issues include the perennial US-China disparity on how to deal with North Korea‘s military provocations, and the contested Seoul-Tokyo agreement on the compensation of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women. 

Being primarily a forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues, discussions on other issues such as climate change and counterterrorism are limited to their economic implications within the G-20 summit.

But the participating national leaders would frequently use the occasion to voice their opinions on prime matters of interest and to touch base with crucial counterparts on the sidelines of the sessions.

For the South Korean president, the top priority was to highlight North Korea’s escalating military provocations and the need for the global community to roll out pragmatic, collaborated countermeasures.

A day prior to Moon’s departure for Germany, the North launched another missile, which it claimed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

While the international community remains divided on the precise classification and capabilities of the projectile, the consensus is that the recent launch shows the progress in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

Moon’s issue-raising turned out to be half a success -- forming a consensus on the seriousness of the threat posed by North Korea, but falling short of the leaders issuing an official statement that would exert more pressure on Pyongyang.

“The North Korea problem was mentioned in the close-door retreat session this morning,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a press briefing on Friday.

“Though it was the president of South Korea, which is to take the direct effect (of North Korean provocations), I would like to point out that all other chiefs of state and government also expressed their concerns over the (North Korea) situation.”

The German leader thereby urged the United Nations Security Council to play its due role and take measures corresponding to the reclusive regime’s breach of international resolutions.

Such action from the presidency state fell short of Moon’s aspiration of having a warning from the international community to North Korea included in the G-20 summit’s official communique.

“I believe that the G-20 summits need to express their shared view on North Korea’s missile launch, separately from the UNSC resolution to increase sanctions and pressure,” Moon said in his speech at Berlin’s Old City Hall on Thursday.

South Korean government officials, however, claimed that Merkel‘s statement holds sufficient political leverage in the global society concerning the reclusive regime.

“Because the G-20 is an economic, financial forum, it is difficult to prioritize political issues and include them in the final written statement,” a senior government official told reporters.

“We take (Merkel’s) remarks as the presidency‘s de facto oral statement on the issue.”

Also, the South Korean president had the chance to elaborate on his roadmap for addressing the North‘s nuclear issue, with all eight state chiefs who held separate summit talks with him enquiring about the details on the matter, the official added.

Another pending challenge for South Korea is to maintain a delicate balance between the US and China, and to take “the steering wheel” in dealing with the North Korea nuclear problem.

Through a set of individual summits, the so-called Big Four nations -- the US, China, Japan and Russia -- all denounced the North’s nuclear program and vowed for measures to bring about its end.

A clear rift, however, was observed between the two biggest players – Washington and Beijing. The former maintains that talks should be based on the North’s denuclearization, while the latter called on the US to end joint military drills with Seoul as a gesture of peace.

“The international community shares the belief that North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs should be abolished in a complete, testable and irreversible manner,” the Cheong Wa Dae official said.

“There may be various opinions when it comes to the details but it is unbecoming to view (the situation) as a conflict between South Korea-US-Japan and China-Russia.”

President Moon also faces prolonged tension with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on the disputed settlement on wartime sex slaves signed by Seoul’s previous conservative administration.

The Japanese prime minister underlined that the agreement needs to be upheld in good faith, but Moon argued that the controversial deal is keeping the two states apart.

“We have to acknowledge the fact that the majority of our people (Koreans) find it emotionally difficult to accept (the deal),” Moon said.

Moon‘s participation in the G-20 sessions marked the new president’s debut in multilateral diplomacy, and a clear signal that Seoul’s summit diplomacy is back on track.

During his five-day stay in Germany -- the first two days spent in Berlin and the rest in Hamburg -- Moon sat in a total of 13 summit-level meetings with counterpart state chiefs and international organization leaders.

In the previous week, he made his first overseas trip as president to Washington for a bilateral meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump.

By Bae Hyun-jung, Korea Herald correspondent (tellme@heraldcorp.com)