Moon Chung-in, a former special adviser to former President Moon Jae-in, said that maintaining the status quo in the decades-long alliance between Seoul and Washington could eventually put South Korea between a rock and a hard place.
"Looking ahead 20 to 30 years, (the alliance) could prove to be a curse, not a blessing," Moon said during a panel discussion with foreign policy experts held at Seoul National University in Gwanak-gu on Wednesday.
Moon's remarks stem from his view that the United States appears to regard South Korea as an outpost for containing China, which he said risks South Korea being entangled in the hegemonic conflict between the US and China.
"As long as the alliance exists, we cannot escape the security dilemma," he said, while suggesting that the alliance should transition to a collective defense system to ensure South Korea's national security.
Moon is currently a professor emeritus of political science and international studies at Yonsei University. He was an adviser to President Moon on unification, diplomacy and national security affairs from 2017 to 2021. The liberal Moon Jae-in administration laid out plans for inter-Korean reconciliation through high-level engagement with North Korea.
Song Min-soon, a former foreign minister of South Korea who served from 2006 to 2008, countered Moon's remarks by saying the alliance between South Korea and the US is "neither a blessing nor a curse, but a reality."
consnow@heraldcorp.com