North Korea's New Nuclear, ICBM Test Will Trigger Instant Crisis, Says South Korea's Moon

Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in during a meeting at the Second Korean Demilitarized Zone. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

JAKARTA - The series of tests of North Korean children's long-range weapons or missiles "instantly" brought the Korean Peninsula back into crisis, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said while calling for preventive measures.

North Korea recorded a record missile test in January, with at least six launches, highlighting the failure of President Moon's efforts to make a breakthrough as his term ends in May.

In fact, North Korea also recorded its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test since 2017, in a series of launches throughout last January.

"If North Korea's series of missile launches go so far as to remove the moratorium on long-range missile tests, the Korean Peninsula may immediately fall back into the crisis state we faced five years ago," President Moon said in a written interview with media in Seoul scheduled for publication on Thursday. reported Reuters February 10.

"Preventing such a crisis through persistent dialogue and diplomacy will be a task that the political leaders of the countries concerned together will have to fulfill," he added.

Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump during a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

President Moon has expressed concern that the series of missile tests is so close to the March 9 presidential election in South Korea, where his Democrat himself will face stiff competition from conservative opponents.

President Moon acknowledged he seemed to be running out of time, saying it was impossible to hold a last-minute summit with Kim Jong-un. Alternatively, the adoption of his proposal for a declaration ending the 1950-1953 Korean War would have occurred before he left office.

However, he said the United States and South Korea had agreed on the text of the declaration, and a summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Joe Biden was 'only a matter of time', if all sides were to avoid a crisis.

"Since dialogue is the only way to solve problems, a meeting between President Biden and Chairman Kim is expected to happen eventually," President Moon assured.

Furthermore, President Moon has pushed for a formal end to the Korean War to replace the ceasefire that stopped fighting, but left him and the US-led United Nations Command technically still at war.

"I want to at least make the conditions ripe for a final declaration of war and pass it on to the next government," he said.

The biggest regret of his tenure, however, was the failure of the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, he said, where a meeting between Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump ended without a deal to reduce North Korea's nuclear or missile weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. international.

"It is regrettable that the summit ended in a 'no deal' when the continuation of dialogue must be ensured at least," President Moon said, arguing that a smaller phased deal was still to be done when it became clear that the "big deal deal" was out of reach.

"But now, if they learn from that experience and put their heads together to discuss realistic steps that are mutually acceptable. I believe there will be many opportunities to find a solution," he added.