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Korean leaders would welcome Megawati as peacemaker
An open conflict between North and South Korea has become more likely after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fired at least six missiles into the sea on Thursday, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that triggered emergency evacuation warnings and halted trains in northern Japan.
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Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Sukarnoputri gives a speech in Jakarta on Feb. 19, 2020. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo needs to appoint former president Megawati Soekarnoputri as his special envoy for peace in the Korean Peninsula, as the region’s tensions boil over and threaten an open conflict. Some Indonesians might look down on Megawati’s international diplomacy, but believe it or not, she is highly regarded in both North and South Korea. And the two Koreas’ trust in her has lasted for at least 20 years.
Recently elected South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, like some of his predecessors, has specifically asked her to play a peace-making role. The chairwoman of Indonesia’s largest political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is very popular in South Korea, and her late father was widely known in the North as a close ally of the late leader Kim Il-sung.
To support Megawati, President Jokowi should establish a powerful team. Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi would likely enthusiastically work with Megawati because it was Megawati who personally endorsed Retno for the foreign ministerial post in 2014 and 2019.
Indonesia’s peace brokering efforts in Korea will not turn into a mission impossible. For one, the request for Megawati to mediate negotiations between the Korean neighbors has been repeatedly conveyed to her.
An open conflict between North and South Korea has become more likely after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fired at least six missiles into the sea on Thursday, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that triggered emergency evacuation warnings and halted trains in northern Japan.
United States President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have warned the North that any attack against the South would also mean an attack on Japan and the US. The North continues threatening the world with its nuclear arsenal, and the world has practically never seen a concrete contribution from the North to global peace. It is as if the whole nation is prepared for war.
The Associated Press on Friday morning, quoting the South Korean and Japanese militaries, reported that North Korea had fired three more short-range missiles into the waters off its eastern coast. Those launches came an hour after a senior North Korean military official issued a statement threatening retaliation over the extension of US-South Korea military drills. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missiles had traveled as far as 500 kilometers.
