Yahoo News Donald Trump 'more reasonable than perceived': South Korean candidate backs US president's stance on Kim Jong-un
US President Donald Trump is aiming to bring North Korea’s rogue regime back to the negotiating table rather than go to war, the frontrunner in South Korea’s presidential elections has claimed.
Moon Jae-in, 64, a former human rights lawyer with the left-leaning Democratic Party, is slated to win the May 9 poll. If so, he also aspires to head to Pyongyang himself for direct talks to diffuse a recent escalation in tensions.
“Trump talks about strenuous pressure, sanctions and even the possibility of a pre-emptive strike, but I believe his ultimate goal is to bring North Korea back to negotiations for the [abolition] of its nuclear programme,” Mr Moon told The Washington Post in an interview.
Inside North Korea - forbidden photos
“I agree with President Trump’s method of applying sanctions and pressure to North Korea to bring them out to negotiate. If that happens, I would meet with Kim Jong-un,” he said, adding: “I believe President Trump is more reasonable than he is generally perceived.”
Mr Moon’s comments are in line with President Trump’s statements in an interview last week when he said that he would be “honoured” to meet Mr Kim “under the right circumstances” and described him as a “smart cookie.”
The president’s change in tone struck a sharp contrast with the inflammatory war rhetoric from both sides over the past few weeks during which he raised the possibility of “major, major conflict” with North Korea.
Mr Moon stressed that the US-South Korea alliance is “the most important foundation for our diplomacy and national security.”
Graphic: The military build-up
A number of high profile US leaders have visited the region in recent weeks, including CIA director, Mike Pompeo, who on Tuesday travelled to South Korea’s Yeongpyeong island to view the Korean peninsula’s contested waters. The North fired artillery at the island in 2010, killing four.
But Mr Moon cautioned the US to proceed carefully over the deployment of THAAD, a controversial anti-missile programme, which he said had divided the country and aggravated foreign relations.
THAAD’s sudden overnight instalment on Korean soil last week strained Seoul’s relationship with Washington.
Mr Moon said he did not believe that the US had intended to interfere in the election, but urged that “if South Korea can have more time to process this matter democratically, the US would gain a higher level of trust.”
