SEOUL, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- President Lee Jae Myung's address marking the 80th anniversary of Korean people's liberation was meant to inspire confidence at a time of profound uncertainty. Instead, it revealed how out of step he and his advisers remain with the realities reshaping the Korean Peninsula and the world.
His lofty rhetoric about dialogue with Pyongyang and dreams of reconciliation only underscored how dangerously shortsighted his government has become.
The North's response was telling. Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un, made clear that Pyongyang no longer considers unification a national goal. To the regime, South Korea is an adversary to be contained, not a partner to be embraced.
For South Korea to pursue the old progressive playbook -- warming ties through symbolic gestures and hopeful summits -- is to chase an illusion even North Korea has abandoned, and in doing so, to cement the division of two states.
The international context makes this delusion even more perilous. Under President Donald Trump, Washington is not simply recalibrating its policy on the Korean Peninsula; it is reshaping the global order.
