His approval ratings have fallen in recent weeks after damaging revelations in the news media around his appointment of Cho Kuk, one of his former presidential aides, as justice minister. On Monday, prosecutors raided Mr. Cho’s home to collect evidence on a flood of allegations of ethical lapses in his family that have dominated newspaper headlines for weeks.
Mr. Moon’s political stock soared when he met Mr. Kim three times last year, helping arrange his summit meetings with Mr. Trump in an effort to work out a deal on dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons and establishing a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
But the enthusiasm for Mr. Moon’s approach cratered after Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump abruptly ended their second summit, in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February, without a deal on how fast and thoroughly North Korea should dismantle its nuclear program.
North Korea has since rejected dialogue with South Korea, dismissing Mr. Moon’s role as mediator and calling him “officious” and “double-dealing.”
Despite such slights, Mr. Moon has resumed his efforts to revive diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula, meeting on Monday with Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Mr. Moon said he hoped that working-level negotiations between the United States and North Korea could be held soon to lay the groundwork for another summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim. But Mr. Trump indicated Monday that he wanted to know what he could achieve in another meeting with Mr. Kim before committing himself to another summit.
“Right now, people would like to see that happen,” Mr. Trump said on the sidelines of the United Nations meeting. “I want to know what’s going to be coming out of it. We can know a lot before the summit takes place.”
The mood for resuming dialogue with North Korea has improved since Mr. Trump removed his hawkish national security adviser, John R. Bolton, and indicated that he might try a “new method” in negotiating with North Korea. Last week, the North’s nuclear envoy, Kim Myong-gil, praised Mr. Trump’s “wise political decision” and said he would like to be “optimistic” about coming talks with Washington.
Source : Nytimes
