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South Korea Finds Itself in a Familiar Spot

May 22, 2018 | 17:26 GMT

South Korean President Moon Jae In and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a news conference outside the White House on June 30, 2017. Moon was back in Washington on May 22 to meet with Trump and to try to mediate between the United States and North Korea as tensions between the two countries are again on the rise.

(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

South Korea finds itself once again mediating between the U.S. and North Korea to keep the diplomatic momentum going, just weeks before a planned U.S.-North Korea summit.
Despite hard-line U.S. and North Korean rhetoric, there are still signs the two sides want to hold their summit — and may compromise.
However, even if the summit fizzles, the United States cannot easily swing back to the maximum pressure tactics of 2017.

Things don't seem so great in the U.S.-North Korea dynamic -- which puts South Korea in a bind. With Pyongyang ominously hinting it might scrap next month's much-anticipated summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae In's second visit to the United States has shifted its focus from last-minute summit coordination to something more like damage control. But Seoul has been here before -- more than once....

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