Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s leading presidential candidate, on Sunday announced a set of policies on North Korea and national security, including an early recovery from the United States of wartime operational control of South Korean forces.
At a press conference in the National Assembly, Moon, the candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea, said he and his government “will take back the wartime OPCON early” and enhance deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)
“We will take charge of our defense ourselves by all intents and purposes,” Moon said.
The OPCON transfer, which was previously set for 2015, was deferred amid Pyongyang’s provocations. Seoul and Washington have agreed on the “conditions-based” transfer, which observers say could come sometime in the 2020s.
Moon pledged that South Korea will play a bigger role in efforts to denuclearize the North and push for denuclearization based on simultaneous actions by stakeholders instead of demanding the North first show its resolve to give up atomic weapons.
The front-runner candidate said he will carry out former President Kim Dae-jung’s “Sunshine Policy” to engage with the North to ultimately persuade Pyongyang to change.
Moon’s views on North Korea have surfaced as a hot button topic in this year’s early presidential election. He has received harsh criticism from conservatives for earlier comments that suggested he was open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before US President Donald Trump, if elected.
On Friday, former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon disclosed a document to back up his claim that Seoul officials consulted North Korea before a key UN vote in 2007. It added fuel to the political fire that has engulfed Moon, who was then a chief presidential aide. (Yonhap)