Washington [US], April 27: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has received the red-carpet treatment in Washington this week as the United States and Seoul mark the 70th anniversary of their alliance.
Yoon's weeklong itinerary features a high-profile summit with US President Joe Biden, a glittering state banquet - an honour reserved only for the United States' closest allies - and a joint address to Congress.
But beneath the pomp and ceremony, thorny issues are at stake. South Korean companies are worried about how Biden's efforts to promote American manufacturing and limit the growth of China's high-tech sector might affect them. And earlier this year, a leak of classified Pentagon documents revealed details of US espionage against South Korea, embarrassing both countries and causing political headaches for Yoon.
Both countries are also hoping to counter North Korea's aggressive missile testing. The two leaders on Wednesday will unveil a new agreement to bolster extended deterrence, the idea that the US will defend its allies with its full military capabilities - including nuclear ones - in response to mounting threats from North Korea, according to senior administration officials.
The "Washington Declaration" will give South Korea more insight and input into US military planning in exchange for Seoul's commitment to not develop its own nuclear weapons, according to officials.
The US will also send a ballistic missile submarine on visits to South Korea for the first time since the 1980s as a visible demonstration of US military might, officials said. The two leaders are expected to roll out a suite of other initiatives on cybersecurity, economic investments and other areas of cooperation to further solidify the alliance in the face of North Korea's record number of nuclear missile tests this year.
Yoon's visit is a "springboard for connecting Korea to this broader web of alliance relationships in the region, whether we're talking about security cooperation, economic security issues ... and interacting with other stakeholders in the region, including Southeast Asian countries and Pacific Islands," said Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director for Asia at Washington-based think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Yoon, a conservative politician who came to office last year, has made fortifying military and diplomatic ties with the US a centrepiece of his foreign policy. He resumed joint military exercises with the United States, coordinated with the US to decrease reliance on China for global supply chains and, more critically, thawed relations with Japan despite a bitter historical dispute over Korean forced labour during Tokyo's colonial rule - a decision that prompted domestic backlash.
Biden, too, has tried to shore up US influence in the Indo-Pacific region as Washington has intensified its economic confrontation with China. Biden will host Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House next week, and is set to travel to Japan for the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21.
Source: Qatar Tribune