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Article snippet: SEOUL, South Korea — When President Moon Jae-in of South Korea sits down with President Trump and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, in New York on Thursday, he will be meeting two of his strongest allies in pressuring North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. But Mr. Moon will also find himself a bit of the odd man out. As the three leaders prepared for their trilateral summit meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting this week, the White House has struck an increasingly bellicose tone toward North Korea. Mr. Trump, addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday, said the United States would “totally destroy North Korea” if necessary. On Wednesday, Mr. Abe defended the Trump administration’s approach, telling the General Assembly that for North Korea, “dialogue was the best means of deceiving us and buying time.” Like Mr. Trump and Mr. Abe, Mr. Moon strongly advocates imposing sanctions and pressure on North Korea. But unlike them, he has repeatedly and categorically ruled out military action. “President Moon appears isolated from the other two,” said Lee Won-deog, an expert on Korean-Japan relations at Kookmin University in Seoul. “There is a suspicion that Prime Minister Abe is using his close personal chemistry with President Trump to help shape the American leader’s views on South Korea.” During his presidential campaign, Mr. Moon promised to seek dialogue with North Korea, insisting that sanctions alone would not per... Link to the full article to read more