[Ms. Kang’s remarks also risked antagonizing the Trump administration, which considers the sanctions its most potent leverage against the North. South Korea’s indication that it might break ranks came just as Washington was criticizing Beijing and Moscow for undermining sanctions enforcement.]
By Choe Sang-Hun
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|
President
Moon Jae-in of South Korea, center, with President Trump in New York
in September.
Credit Tom Brenner for The New York Times
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SEOUL,
South Korea — South Korea
moved to patch up an emerging diplomatic row with the United States on
Thursday, disowning any plan to lift sanctions against North Korea after
President Trump’s blunt remark that Seoul could “do nothing” without
Washington’s “approval.”
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha of South
Korea said on Wednesday that government agencies were discussing lifting a
broad trade and investment embargo that Seoul imposed on the North in 2010, a
statement that came despite Washington’s efforts to keep the economic noose on
Pyongyang until it denuclearizes.
The minister’s comment alarmed conservative
South Koreans, who accused the government of undermining their country’s
alliance with the United States, which has led the effort to impose United
Nations sanctions on North Korea.
Ms. Kang’s remarks also risked antagonizing
the Trump administration, which considers the sanctions its most potent
leverage against the North. South Korea’s indication that it might break ranks
came just as Washington was criticizing Beijing and Moscow for undermining
sanctions enforcement.
“They won’t do it without our approval,” Mr.
Trump said of the South Korean suggestion on Wednesday. “They do nothing
without our approval.”
On Thursday, the South Korean minister for
unification, Cho Myoung-gyon, walked back Ms. Kang’s comments, saying that “no
detailed consideration” had been given to removing the sanctions.
Mr. Cho also said that it would be hard to
lift the sanctions unless North Korea apologized for the sinking of a South
Korean navy ship that killed 46 sailors in 2010. The sanctions were imposed in
retaliation for that action, but North Korea has vehemently denied involvement.
As part of his successful presidential
campaign last year, Moon Jae-in declared that South Korea should learn to say
no to Washington, the country’s most important ally. He also questioned the
usefulness of the Pentagon’s plan to deploy an antimissile defense system in
South Korea and pushed back at Mr. Trump’s threat to launch a military attack
on North Korea.
But since taking office, Mr. Moon has learned
the wisdom of calming and even flattering Mr. Trump to get the American
president on his side in pursuing warmer ties with North Korea.
He repeatedly praised Mr. Trump for bringing
North Korea back to the negotiating table, crediting him for making the latest
rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula possible. He eventually accepted the
deployment of the Pentagon missile defense system, known as Thaad. South Korea
also bowed to Mr. Trump’s pressure and revised a bilateral trade agreement.
Mr. Trump’s comment on Wednesday did not go
down well with many South Koreans.
“It is a diplomatically very coarse comment
that can be seen as an infringement upon the sovereignty of another country,”
the news agency Yonhap said in an editorial on Thursday. “It’s regrettable that
such an insulting comment came between allies.”
A small group of progressive politicians and
students rallied near the American Embassy in central Seoul on Thursday,
denouncing a “gangsterlike” Mr. Trump for treating its ally like a “colony” and
trying to impede progress in relations between the two Koreas. They held signs
saying, “We don’t need American approval!”
“The dog barks, but the caravan moves on,”
Lee Eun-hae, a spokeswoman at the minor progressive Minjung Party, said in a
statement about Mr. Trump and closer relations with North Korea.
But Kim Moo-sung, a conservative legislator,
said that Mr. Moon’s government had asked for an “insult” from the American
allies by speaking “too much on North Korea’s behalf.”
Mr. Moon’s office did not comment on Mr.
Trump’s remark, saying only that the allies closely coordinated their policies
on North Korea. Washington also denies any rift with Seoul.
South Korea officially agrees with the United
States that it should not improve ties with North Korea too fast without
progress in the denuclearization of the North. But there have been subtle
differences between the allies over the pace of inter-Korean engagement amid
concerns in Washington that Pyongyang was not moving quickly enough to
denuclearize.
Washington remains focused on enforcing
sanctions, while Seoul wants to expand inter-Korean ties as an incentive for
the North. South Korea has indicated that it wants to bolster economic and
other exchanges with the North to the extent that they do not violate United
Nations sanctions.