Seoul: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in crisis-hit South Korea late Sunday, where he will try to encourage continuity, not strategy, with the impeached president’s policies.
Blinken will hold talks with counterpart Cho Tae-yeul on Monday, the same day the warrant for the arrest of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, who tried unsuccessfully to impose martial law on Dec. 3, expires.
Seoul is the first stop on Blinken’s possibly final visit as the top US diplomat as he seeks to highlight President Joe Biden’s record of rallying Democratic allies ahead of the return of a more aggressive Donald Trump.
Blinken will then depart for Tokyo, making it important in the eyes of his advisers not to overlook South Korea, which has a tense and often competitive relationship with fellow US ally Japan, which is also home to thousands of US troops. Is.
Yoon was once a darling of the Biden administration for his bold moves to reverse the confrontation with Japan and his eye for a bigger role for South Korea in global issues.
Yoon joined Biden for a historic three-way summit with the prime minister of Japan and – just months before declaring martial law – was selected to lead a global democracy summit, a meeting of the outgoing US administration. There was a signature initiative for.
Yoon memorably charmed her hosts by singing “American Pie” at a White House dinner on her state visit.
Sidney Seiler, a former US intelligence official who now focuses on Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Blinken may face some criticism from the South Korean left for the trip, but he should be able to handle the political crisis. Needed
Blinken has a high enough profile to stay above the fray and can remain focused on challenges like China and North Korea, he said.
“Blinken could relatively easily avoid these domestic South Korean landmines and not refer to it as helping the ruling party or trying to artificially create a sense of normalcy,” Seiler said.
In a statement, the State Department did not directly mention the political crisis, but said Blinken would try to preserve trilateral cooperation with Japan, including intelligence sharing on North Korea.
-Change in both partners-
Blinken’s visit comes at a time of transition for both countries, with Trump returning to the White House on January 20.
Paradoxically, while Biden worked closely with the conservative Yun, Trump in his first term forged a warm relationship with then-progressive President Moon Jae-in, who encouraged the US president’s unprecedented personal diplomacy with North Korea.
The Biden administration has stressed since the crisis that it is reaching out to South Korean politicians from all parties, amid uncertainties over who will lead Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Progressive opposition leader Lee Jae-myung – himself facing election disqualification in a court case – supports diplomacy with North Korea.
But the former labor activist has also taken stances that differ from both Biden and Trump.
Lee has criticized the deployment of the US-made THAAD missile defense, which Washington says is meant to defend against North Korea but which China sees as a provocation.
South Korea’s left has long taken a tough stance on Japan over its brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
US officials said they were given no warning by Yun about imposing martial law, leading to large numbers of protesters taking to the streets.
Blinken, addressing reporters last month, said the crisis had shown the strength of the institutions built in the three decades since South Korea embraced democracy.
“I think Korea is one of the most powerful stories in the world about the emergence of democracy and democratic resilience, and we will continue to look to Korea to set that example,” Blinken said.
