South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-In speaks during a press conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul on May 10, 2017.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-In spoke to the leaders of China and Japan on Thursday, hours after a telephone call with his USA counterpart Donald Trump happened, officials and reports said, as he began shaping his approach to the nuclear armed North.
A South Korean presidential spokesman said that the Chinese leader – who initiated the call – “explained the reasons for Beijing’s strong and repeated opposition” to the deployment, Yonhap news agency reported.
Moon has also criticized the USA military’s hurried installation of a missile-defense system in South Korea in recent weeks, scoffing at Trump’s suggestion that the South Korean government pay $1 billion for the system and calling for a thorough review of the deployment.
China has already taken commercial retaliation against South Korean business interests on its soil, but will be hoping Moon follows through on his campaign pledge to review the missile system’s deployment if elected.
Moon has previously expressed ambivalence over the THAAD system and told Xi he was “well aware” of Chinese concerns about it.
Moon assumed presidential duties early in the morning after the National Election Commission finished counting Tuesday’s votes and declared him victor of the special election necessitated by the ousting of conservative Park Geun-hye, whose downfall and jailing on corruption charges is one of the most turbulent stretches in the nation’s recent political history.
Beijing’s displeasure over THAAD has reportedly been felt by South Korean businesses, particularly Lotte, the South Korean conglomerate that signed off on a land swap deal with the government to provide a site for the THAAD launch systems in late February.
Regional experts have believed for months that North Korea is preparing for its sixth nuclear test. It says he is a North Korean resident of Pyongyang who worked for a time in the Russian Far East.
Moon came to power with a promise to review the system and he told Xi North Korea must cease making provocations before tension over the deployment could be resolved, officials said.
Moon has said he would “go to Pyongyang if conditions are met” during his inaugural address, and had proposed the reopening of a jointly operated factory park in the right circumstances.
Only a few middle and high schools in South Korea have said that they would pick the books the state has issued.
The White House said the two agreed to continue to strengthen the alliance between their countries.
The antimissile system is one of the thorniest diplomatic issues the new South Korean leader faces.
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However, he was clear that he thought the issue shouldn’t affect the wider South Korea-Japan relationship, saying the two countries should deal with the “comfort women” dispute and “work independently in order to respond to the North Korean nuclear and missiles issues”.
