Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump for engaging in a war of words with North Korea, calling it a “dangerous and short-sighted” move that will only benefit North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and eventually undermine US credibility.

Clinton, who also served as US Secretary of State, stressed the need for more pressure on North Korea and a diplomatic approach to bring the regime to talks, calling on China to play a more proactive role in enforcing sanctions against its wayward ally. 


“Picking fights with Kim Jong-un just puts a smile on his face. It‘s like picking fights with NATO and the EU which puts a smile on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s face,” said Clinton at World Knowledge Forum in Seoul. “There is no need for us to be bellicose and aggressive (over North Korea).”

“I am worried about some of the recent actions from the new administration that seem to raise tensions. Our allies are now expressing concerns about America‘s credibility and reliability,” she added, without mentioning Trump by name.

Tension on the peninsula has risen in recent weeks over the North’s nuclear and missile tests, with Trump threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea if it threatens the US. Kim Jong-un responded by calling Trump “mentally deranged” and saying he would pay dearly for his threat.

Having served as the US top diplomat from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama, Clinton said Trump’s “cavalierly threats” are not only dangerous and short-sighted, but also make Kim feel ”thrilled“ to attract the personal attention of the US commander-in-chief.

The former state secretary also expressed concern about the lack of expertise by the Trump administration to deal with bellicose and unpredictable North Korea, saying the new administration is “draining” the government of diplomatic expertise.

Regarding the role of China, Clinton said Beijing would be better off trying to ”tighten and absolutely enforce sanctions“ against North Korea, whose relations with China has been strained after Beijing participated in the UN-led sanctions over Pyongyang’s latest nuclear test and missile launches.

Former United Nation’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the same forum with Clinton, expressed opposition to bringing back tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, highlighting that the US nuclear umbrella is powerful enough to defend against North Korea’s nuclear threat.
 
“I don’t think it’s desirable to bring up this issue again,” said Ban at a forum in Seoul, explaining his experience as a South Korean diplomat when the US withdrew tactical nukes from the Korean Peninsula in 1991. “The US provides (the) nuclear umbrella to its allies and they have stuck to it quite well.”

Ban’s remarks were in line with the South Korean government’s stance that redeploying US tactical nukes clashes with Seoul’s nuclear-free initiative and therefore undermines its decadeslong efforts to denuclearize North Korea.

Faced with North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, conservative politicians and security scholars have urged the government to bring back US tactical nukes in order to achieve a “balance of terror” with the nuclear-armed North Korea.

Unification Minster Cho Myung-kyun reiterated the government’s opposition to the redeployment of US nukes, saying that it is “virtually impossible” to achieve the goal, as the US is “extremely unlikely” to change its extended deterrence policy of providing a nuclear umbrella to its allies, rather than fielding its own nukes.

“Redeploying tactical nuclear weapons is the same as acknowledging North Korea’s nuclear possession,” Cho said during another forum in Seoul. “It would be problematic if we deal with North Korea’s nuclear weapons after recognizing its possession.”

Some lawmakers and analysts pointed out that the US is left with “almost nothing” to deploy its tactical nukes here because most of them have been discarded since Washington withdrew the weapons from the peninsula in 1991.

Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at Rand Corp who attended the same forum with Ban, agreed, saying that the US has abandoned most tactical nuclear weapons and the remaining stockpile is mostly deployed in Europe.

Ban, who served as South Korea’s foreign minister, said it would be “inappropriate” for South Korea to take back wartime operational control of its troops from the US, particularly when North Korea poses grave security threats with its nuclear and missile programs.

“When it comes to national pride, we have to assume wartime operational control. But given that the two Koreas’ relation is at stake, we have to discuss the issue during the peace,” said Ban. “We have a solid combined command structure.”

The government has vowed to complete the transfer of wartime operational control “promptly,” while the Defense Ministry has pledged to come up with a detailed roadmap next year. President Moon and his US counterpart Donald Trump agreed on the prompt transfer during their summit in June.

Under the current US-led Combined Forces Command, a US four-star general serves as a commander. If the OPCON transfer is proceeded as planned, the allies will establish a new command, under which a South Korean four-star general would assume the commander’s role, while the US general will serve as the deputy.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)