Doubts in South Korea ahead of third inter-Korean summit
(Baonghean.vn) - According to another survey released earlier this month, South Korea is currently divided on whether next week's summit in Pyongyang will help break the deadlock in nuclear diplomacy between the US and North Korea.
South Korean liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has reversed nearly a decade of conservative hardline policy toward North Korea, is preparing to hold a third inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang amid growing public skepticism about his approach.
 |
| The first inter-Korean summit last April. Photo: AP |
Mr Moon, who will visit Pyongyang on September 18, has seen his approval rating drop to 49% in a recent Gallup poll.
South Korea is divided over whether next week's summit in Pyongyang will help break the nuclear diplomacy deadlock between the United States and North Korea, according to another survey released earlier this month.
Meanwhile, polls after the first summit in April showed strong support for President Moon, as public opinion was excited by the historic handshake, walking together across the border and other remarkable scenes the two leaders created after years of escalating tensions.
“Our people are beginning to understand that North Korea will not easily give up its nuclear weapons, something many experts have repeatedly predicted,” said Kim Tae-woo, former president of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification.
“If President Moon cannot solve economic problems, he cannot maintain public satisfaction with the government by relying solely on North Korea policy,” said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University. “If the economy worsens, many people will ask Moon to stop thinking about North Korea and start solving economic problems.”
Meanwhile, Professor Lim Eul Chul at Kyungnam University in South Korea said that conservative figures today "tend to criticize North Korea and separate themselves from the Moon administration to gain their own political interests."
During a Cabinet meeting last week, President Moon stressed that he needed not only strong international support, but also “support from neutral figures at home” to help the inter-Korean summit next week make important progress toward denuclearization.
Mr Moon even asked the conservative opposition leader to accompany him to Pyongyang for the summit, but they immediately refused.
“Given that North Korea has not taken concrete steps toward denuclearization, even after two inter-Korean summits and a US-North Korea summit, it is too much to ask us to go to Pyongyang. We are concerned whether this invitation... is intended to give Kim Jong-un a gift.”