“Alliance and Chinese Pressure” White House Doesn’t Comment on the Announcement Line of US-Korea Summit

I matched the code, but rather the other party’s presentation was lukewarm. This is the temperature difference revealed in the press releases released by the two countries about the talks between the two Koreas and the US on the 4th.

The call between President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden was held for 32 minutes from 8:25 am to 57 am. President Moon said in a tweet right after the call, “I and President Biden promised to upgrade the ROK-US alliance to the next level based on common values.” Blue House spokesman Kang Min-seok said at a briefing, “The two leaders decided to continue developing the ROK-US alliance into a comprehensive strategic alliance that contributes to the promotion of democracy and human rights beyond cooperation in the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region.”

President Moon’s direct emphasis on the value alliance and the expression of “upgrade” is read as an intent to respond to the biden administration’s public pressure policy. This is because President Biden has publicly expressed his intention to contain China by alliance with allies and allies who share the core values ​​of democracy such as freedom and human rights.
In fact, the expression’Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation’, which was controversial after entering the press release on the US side after a call by the US-Korea foreign ministers on the 27th of last month, was included in the announcement. Spokesman Kang introduced, “The two leaders agreed that the improvement of Korea-Japan relations and cooperation between Korea-US and Japan are important to peace and prosperity in the region.”
Professor Han-kwon Kim of the National Academy of Foreign Affairs said, “The expression of upgrade can be seen as an expression of the will to solve inter-Korean relations and public policy centering on the ROK-US alliance.” Value is a sensitive part that is linked to sovereignty in China, so it is necessary to consider how far the government can strengthen the value alliance in the future.”

However, in the press release of the White House, most of the expressions and concepts with public restraints in mind were omitted. The representative one is the’Indo-Pacific’. The’Indo-Pacific Strategy’ is a strategy that the Trump administration aims to block China by uniting allies in the Asia-Pacific, and the Biden administration, who is obsessed with erasing Trump, continues to use this concept.
But The White House said in a press release related to the call between the US and the ROK, President Biden expressed the US-ROK alliance as a “linchpin” of Northeast Asia, not the Indo-Pacific.
This is compared to the press release on the phone between President Biden and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the 27th of last month. At the time, the White House said, “The two leaders emphasized the importance of the US-Japan alliance as a cornerstone for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.” “The two leaders also discussed security issues in the region such as China and North Korea.” The word’China’ did not appear in the press release on the summit between Korea and the United States.

On the same day as President Moon, a call was made between the leaders of the United States and Australia, and the White House said in a press release that President Biden regarded the U.S.-Australia alliance as an “anchor” to protect the stability of the Indo-Pacific and the world. “The two leaders discussed cooperation measures to address global and regional challenges, including how to do China,” the White House said.

The ROK-US alliance is expressed as “the core axis of Northeast Asia”, the US-Japan alliance is “the cornerstone of the Indo-Pacific”, and the US-Australia alliance is expressed as “the anchor of the world”. It was implicitly revealed which alliance would be more important in global strategies such as China’s checks, but it is pointed out that this reflects concerns about South Korea, which is walking tightrope between the US and China.
In response, Shin Beom-cheol, Director of the Center for Foreign Affairs and Security, Economic and Social Research Institute “It seems to reflect the difference in expectations for the alliance”“It is a reality that it is difficult to call the ROK-US alliance as the core axis of the Indo-Pacific because Korea does not have a large participation in the Indo-Pacific strategy, such as the Quad (US, Japan, Australia, India) security consultative body, It was referring to the role of the alliance in the region.”

Ewha Womans University’s Faculty of International Studies Professor Park In-Hwi said, “The Biden administration, which is trying to solve global difficulties by consolidating diplomatic capabilities, will not discriminate against the alliance.” It is natural to consider Australia as your most important partner.”

In the call between President Biden and Prime Minister Suga, the US pledge to deter expansion (nuclear umbrella) was also stated. In the press release of the summit between the US and Korea, there was no expression like “the US’s thorough defense pledge to Korea” that went in like a commercial phrase. The word’security’ did not appear at all.
Regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, spokesman Kang said, “President Biden evaluated the efforts of South Korea, the main party to resolve the Korean peninsula,” and “the two leaders agreed on the necessity to prepare a comprehensive strategy against North Korea as soon as possible.” The White House only said, “The two leaders have agreed to closely coordinate with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” When speaking with Prime Minister Suga, President Biden mentioned’denuclearization’, saying, “The two leaders emphasized the need for complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
Regarding this, a key member of the Blue House said, “After the normal call, the two sides each announced without coordination. I think the context of the White House data is the same.”
Reporters Yoo Ji-hye and Hyun-ju Park [email protected]