Will North Korea’s killing of a South Korean civilian eclipse Moon’s dream of a united peninsula?
- The incident, which happened barely a day after the president called for a formal end to the Korean war, has sparked outrage and acrimony at home
- Moon has staked his legacy on a policy of reconciliation, but experts say the case is a sign Pyongyang and Kim are not interested in his efforts
The incident marked the first killing of a South Korean civilian in the North since 2008, when a North Korean soldier fatally shot a tourist who wandered into a restricted area near the Mount Kumgang resort.
Moon, whose Wednesday speech to the UN drew silence from North Korea, the United States, and China – the parties capable of putting in place a peace treaty to replace the armistice that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean war – said the killing was “shocking” and could not be tolerated.
“President Moon’s call for an end-of-war declaration at the UN has become an international laughing stock,” said Hong Deuk-pyo, a professor emeritus of political science at Inha University.
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“This case makes it clear to see how empty the Moon administration’s one-sided wooing of the North has been, and it exposes how North Korea looks down on and doesn’t give a damn about South Korea. We can expect South Koreans to be furious and their hostility toward the Moon administration’s policy of reconciliation and cooperation with the North to grow.”