South Korea's President May Be Just the Man to Solve the North Korea Crisis

Moon Jae In, the new president of South Korea, was supposed to be a liberal dove. After his election victory in May, many observers called him “softer” on North Korea than his predecessor, the conservative, “more hawkish” Park Geun Hye. He was also expected to clash with U.S. President Donald Trump, as committed a hawk as Moon was supposedly a dove. Pundits feared that Moon would try to resurrect the “Sunshine Policy” of his liberal predecessors, kowtowing to North Korea to appease Kim Jong Un—futilely, in their view.

So Moon’s aggressive reaction to North Korea's recent long-range missile testing may come across as a surprise. Moon was the first to suggest to Trump that South Korea and the United States should respond with their own joint missile-firing drill. The situation called for “more than just a statement,” he, as he ordered what is known as a “decapitation” missile drill: preparation for the scenario in which armed hostilities break out, and the North Korean leadership must be eliminated quickly. Reportedly, Moon to ensure that the press understood the drill was a "show of force." He kept up his rhetoric at the G20 summit in Hamburg, calling for an "even greater level of international sanctions and pressure" in with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.