South Korean President. South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Pope Francis on Friday, giving him a cross made from barbed wire from the peninsula's demilitarized zone and again urging him to visit North Korea. The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday said it was "admirable" of the South to propose a formal end to the Korean War but demanded Seoul first drop its "hostile policies" towards Pyongyang.
President Joe Biden this week to revive long-stalled talks with North Korea and urge the White House to embrace the issue with more urgency. South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered officials to explore moving an international court over Japan's decision to release water from its Fukushima nuclear plant, his spokesman said, amid protests by fisheries and environmental groups. Yoon, however, has his own legal problems to contend with.
Investigators are looking into suggestions that while working as prosecutor general, he arranged for criminal complaints to be opened into politicians running in the legislative elections. Yoon has denied the allegations. Whatever the outcome of that probe, Yoon has performed a remarkable about face in the last eight years. He was instrumental in the investigation that eventually led to the impeachment of and subsequent arrest and conviction of former President Park Geun-hye for corruption.
Seen as a campaigner against wrongdoing in government, he was in elevated to prosecutor general by Moon and tasked with rooting out corruption. Unfortunately for President Moon, one of Yoon's earliest targets was his new justice minister, Cho Kuk.
Cho was forced to resign after serving just over a month in office over a series of illicit business activities involving his wife and other relatives, as well as the falsification of the academic records of his daughter.
Cho's fall angered other members of Moon's party and his replacement as justice minister retaliated by demoting or moving many of Yoon's senior prosecutors.
Undeterred, Yoon further upset the party by investigating irregularities in the election of the mayor of Ulsan in , with the meddling allegedly traced all the way back to the president's office. Yoon was suspended in November , accused of ethical violations, but fought back through the courts until Moon confirmed his suspension.
In protest, Yoon resigned. South Korea's last two presidents are presently serving prison terms after being found guilty of corruption while in office. If Yoon wins in the March election, it is not inconceivable that he will use his powers as president to pursue an investigation into Moon or others in the administration that he feels have slighted him.
Visit the new DW website Take a look at the beta version of dw. The discussions between the two leaders occur just a few weeks after the Biden administration finalized its monthslong review of North Korea policy, one that signals a departure from previous administrations by pursuing a "calibrated, practical approach," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
This shift in rhetoric — one that strays from Obama-era strategic patience while refraining from making flashy deals — has yielded a "sense of calm" as Moon and Biden prepare to engage in talks, said Jean Lee, director of the Korea program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D. Moon welcomed this open-ended approach in a nationally televised speech marking his four-year anniversary on May Issuing a call to action to restore inter-Korean dialogue, he vowed to do everything he could to "restart the clock of peace.
North Korea is expected to be near the top of the meeting agenda. But while the two leaders have mutually vowed to work toward the ultimate goal of achieving a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, experts say Biden's incremental approach may potentially frustrate Moon in achieving his promised goal of securing a peace regime.
Despite these variances in timelines, upholding the alliance between the U. The Wilson Center's Lee echoed these observations, adding that North Korea will be closely watching the summit and that the joint meeting will "send a signal to the North that Moon has Biden's ear, which is a position of strength that Moon is keen to establish.
The Moon-Biden summit will mark Biden's second in-person meeting since he took office in January. Some of Washington's larger agenda items may have South Korea walking on a tightrope though and will heavily depend on to what extent South Korea decides to participate, said Park Won-gon, who teaches North Korea studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
0コメント