
Korea Reaches out to Southern Neighbors
“Peace is the path. Peace can only be achieved through peace.”
- President Moon Jae-in, in the guest book at the Gandhi Smriti museum in New Delhi on July 9 -
Written by Sohn Ji-ae Photos courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae
President Moon Jae-in visited the Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to India’s symbol of peace, the late Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), on the second day of his state visit to India on July 9. The site soon resonated with a sound of a bell, as President Moon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang in turn the World Peace Gong standing near a bronze statue of Gandhi himself. It was the sound of peace. It was the sound of hope that the two leaders shared for regional and world peace.
President Moon made sure to take advantage of his latest six-day, two-country state visit to what he called Korea’s “key partners” in South and Southeast Asia: India and Singapore. Traveling from July 8 to 13, President Moon’s goal was to share his resolute commitment to denuclearization and to the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula. President Moon was able to drum up support from the two governments, too, to join him on a journey toward peace. Indian Prime Minister Modi said in a meeting with him that, “India, too, is also a stakeholder in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. We’ll do our bit to ensure peace.”
President Moon’s official state visit to Singapore just one month after the firstever historic United States-North Korea Summit that took place there on June 12 represents President Moon’s strong will to maintain and continue the current momentum for peaceful dialogue on the peninsula that was initiated by the two Inter-Korean Summits and by the United States-North Korea Summit.
President Moon was also clearly intent on appeasing concerns that the U.S. and North Korea seemed to face hurdles in negotiations about denuclearization after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to Pyeongyang. With a clear affirmation that negotiations between the two sides are on the right track, President Moon cautiously anticipated that, “The negotiations would be able to succeed if the North were to carry out complete denuclearization and the international community were to gather efforts to provide security guarantees to the North.”
As an air of peace is now spreading across the peninsula and the region, President Moon made the most of the visits to expand bilateral economic cooperation with India and Singapore and, also, to draw a “new economic map” for the region. It’s a map that is based on the idea that North Korea’s complete denuclearization will lead to a new era of economic cooperation and prosperity, not only between the two Koreas, but also between Korea and ASEAN.
It is true that President Moon constantly displayed his hopes for potential business opportunities in the two Asian economies, as evidenced by the fact that he included on his itinerary an inauguration ceremony for Samsung’s new smartphone factory in Noida, and that he chose to take a ride on the New Delhi subway built by Korean companies, rather than hop onto a traditional presidential vehicle.
In particular, the president elaborated his government’s key New Southern Policy, an economic initiative aimed at establishing a future partnership with South Asian and Southeast Asian countries for “people, prosperity and peace” across the region. Calling India and Singapore “core partners for the New Southern Policy,” President Moon hoped that under the initiative, Korea’s relationships with the two countries would be promoted to the same level as Korea’s diplomatic relationship with its four key neighbors: the U.S., mainland China, Japan and Russia.
The overall impact of his visits was quite significant business-wise. The outcomes include the establishment of a special strategic partnership with India, an agreement to increase Seoul-New Delhi bilateral trade -- currently USD 20 billion and targeting USD 50 billion by 2030 -- and joint projects and exchanges of cutting-edge technologies among Korea, India and Singapore, like artificial intelligence, smart cities, infrastructure, bio-health and electric vehicles. All of this, President Moon emphasized, is to better face the ongoing challenges brought about by the fourth industrial revolution.
“If we achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula, I believe Asia will become the most economically prosperous region in the world. The region will become a ray of hope to light up the future of humanity,” President Moon said in his Singapore Lecture at the Orchard Hotel on July 13.
As the geopolitical landscape of Northeast Asia has been evolving dramatically over the past few months due to shifting dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, all eyes are now focused on President Moon’s every diplomatic move. During his maiden visits to the two Asian countries this time, President Moon expanded his diplomatic horizon toward South Asia and Southeast Asia. The vision of peace and economic cooperation that he shared with the Indian and Singaporean leaders is expected to provide new impetus to the expansion and deepening of engagement and friendship with those countries. It will also serve as a cornerstone for a new era of peace and prosperity across the region and beyond.