Historic Kim summit may make or break Moon’s presidency

Bloomberg

Moon Jae-in has more than world peace riding on a successful summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this week: His domestic agenda is also at stake.
Moon’s trip to North Korea’s capital—the first such visit by a South Korean leader in 11 years—will again test his ability to bridge the gap between two volatile leaders, Kim and US President Donald Trump. It may also help South Koreans forget about soaring home prices and unemployment that have brought his sky-high approval ratings down to earth.
South Koreans see Moon’s dovish North Korea policy as a success, beginning with the landmark rapprochement forged with Kim at an April summit at the countries’ border. That was followed by other initiatives, including a new inter-Korea liaison office and reunions of families separated by the Korean War.
But the goodwill generated from his historic North Korea meetings has been eroded by an economic slump. Home prices are becoming out of reach for Seoul’s middle class, and unemployment in August rose to its highest level in more than eight years.
This is Moon’s “first political crisis,” said Lee Eun-young, head of the Korea Public Opinion Lab. “Depending on what the government’s goal from the summit is, it could make or break his presidency,” she said, adding that it’s not clear whether Moon wants a declaration to end the war or continued meetings with Kim to find common ground.
Moon is bringing some of South Korea’s top business titans with him to Pyongyang. His 200-member delegation will include Samsung Electronics Co. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Co. Vice Chairman Kim Yong-hwan, SK Hynix Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won and LG Corp Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
“We believe with this summit, we can expect to move forward with ‘New Economic Map of the Korean Peninsula’ that our government has been pushing for,” Im Jong-seok, Moon’s chief of staff, told reporters on Sunday.
Frustration with the economy has led South Koreans to draw unfavourable comparisons between Moon’s policies and the struggles of his mentor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun. He led the country from 2003 to 2008 and was the last South Korean leader to visit Pyongyang.
‘Disappointment’
Moon has often cited Roh as the inspiration behind his own bid for the presidency, and served as his chief of staff. He has said he wouldn’t repeat the economic mistakes that plagued Roh’s presidency, notably a failure to control skyrocketing housing prices that jumped almost 60 percent, or to reform powerful family-owned conglomerates known as chaebol.
But now similar domestic troubles are hitting Moon. The median price of a Seoul apartment jumped to 779 million won ($700,000) as of August, 20 percent higher than a
year earlier, according to KB Kookmin Bank.
Seoul’s younger families
are once again being forced
out of the market, lamenting their inability to buy apartments as prices outpace what they can save.