President Moon’s approval rating is down to 49% and people are more skeptical of his North Korea policies since the first Kim-Moon summit:
In this Sept. 12, 2018 file photo, people walk past under a banner showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korea President Moon Jae-in to wish for the successful inter-Korean summit at Seoul City Hall in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea’s liberal president faces growing skepticism at home about his engagement policy ahead of his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A survey showed nearly half of South Koreans think next week’s summit won’t find a breakthrough to resolve a troubled nuclear diplomacy. It comes as Moon’s approval rating is declining amid economic frustrations. The signs read: ” We wish for the successful summit between North and South Korea.”
“Our people are beginning to learn that North Korea will not easily give up its nukes, something that many experts had already repeatedly predicted,” said Kim Taewoo, former president of the government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
Moon may face increasing difficulties if his summit with Kim in Pyongyang fails to make tangible progress on efforts to get North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
Economic woes such as a lackluster job-market growth and soaring real estate prices are compounding Moon’s problems, adding to opposition to his North Korea policy, many experts say.
“If Moon fails to address economic problems, he can’t maintain public contentment with his government only with his North Korea policy,” said Nam Sung-wook, a professor at Korea University. “If the economy gets worse, many people will demand that Moon stop looking to North Korea and start resolving our own economic problems.” [Stars & Stripes]
I expect that President Moon will try and get the Kim regime to do some big spectacle to impress the South Korean domestic audience and President Trump that progress is being made on denuclearization. Something Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il did was demolish a nuclear cooling tower to impress President Bush back in 2008. The strategy worked because the Bush administration cut a deal with Kim.
The old cooling tower was easily replaceable and did nothing to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. Kim the younger could try some kind of similar spectacle as well to make people believe in his “pretend denuclearization” strategy.
