Worst Inter-Korean Relations … Pompeo’s Visit to Korea, ‘October Surprise’ Also a Bubble?

The situation on the Korean Peninsula is expected to quickly freeze again due to the incident in which North Korea killed drifting Koreans and burned their bodies. While President Moon Jae-in proposed an end to the war in a UN General Assembly speech, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Korea in early October raised the possibility that the government’s expectation of the ‘October Surprise’ on the Korean peninsula is also wasted.

Meanwhile, there have been many observations inside and outside the government that there is a possibility that Pompeo will send a message to resume the dialogue between North Korea and the United States. Whenever Minister Pompeo came to South Korea, there was a large-scale event related to North Korea. The reason is that there may be a movement to take care of the US presidential elections in November, as the first vice chairman of the North Korean Labor Party, Kim Yeo-jeong, the younger brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, requested a DVD of the US Independence Day event in a talk in July.

However, it is noted that with this incident, inter-Korean relations were in fact in the worst situation. It is not enough to kill Korean citizens who were adrift at sea without a separate trial procedure, so their bodies were burned and abandoned, so you have no choice but to cause a wave that is difficult to compare with the bombing of the Gaeseong Inter-Korean Cooperation Office in June. It is in the same context that the Blue House and the Defense Ministry demanded “anti-human behavior” and “severe punishment of the person responsible” on this day.

In particular, it is difficult for the government to find a cause for inter-Korean dialogue at the moment, given that North Korea is unlikely to respond to South Korea’s demand to prevent recurrence and punish the person in charge. As a result, it is observed that it has become virtually impossible to produce dramatic events between North Korea and the United States. A diplomatic source said, “Minister Pompeo’s visit to Korea was largely accomplished because the plan to visit Japan was originally planned,” he said. “In relation to North Korea, unless it shows that the crisis is practically resolved, it is not useful for the elections.” It’s hard to expect an ‘October surprise’ ”. Eventually, even if Secretary Pompeo comes to South Korea, he is expected to only send a message to North Korea at the “door to dialogue is open” level at the standard level. “Minister Pompeo will focus on the main story,” said Woo Jeong-yeop, director of the Sejong Institute’s American Research Center. Reporter Kijae Han [email protected]