Recently elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the odd announcement this week, that he thinks the way to bring peace between militant dictator Kim Jong-un’s North Korean state and South Korea, is through the Olympic games.
“The doors to PyeongChang, the road to peace, are also open to North Korea,” Moon said in an airy speech to the general assembly of the National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC), according to Yonhap News Agency.
Jae-in seemed to think the Olympics will mark “progress” to stop the North’s nuclear missile tests. “The one step North Korea takes toward PyeongChang will mark a great progress toward peace that cannot be obtained even with hundreds of missiles,” Jae-in added.
“The most serious challenge and threat that lies before us now is North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles. But our principle of peaceful reunification also remains firm,” the left-wing South Korean leader continued.
Jae-in, a former left-wing student activist, human rights lawyer, and former leader of the Minjoo Party, went on to say that “peace” is a “human right” and that all Koreans have a duty to build a “peaceful Korean Peninsula.”
“Our destination is clear,” Jae-in concluded. “It is a Korean Peninsula of peace and prosperity. The NUAC will be an advisory group that brings the people together. It will create a strong and firm foundation for peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula.”
Kim Jong-un’s rush to gain nuclear weapons may have just killed some 200 of his subjects. A report on Tuesday said that a cave-in at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site occurred killing up to 100 workers. Then, a second cave-in may have killed an additional 100 rescue workers according to the reports.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.