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| ▲ On December 7, 2013, Joe Biden (Vice President at the time) visits the Olleh Post (GP) near Panmunjeom with his granddaughter Piner Gunyang and looks at the northern area with binoculars. | |
| Ⓒ Yonhap News |
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(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Ryu Ji-bok = The diplomatic and security campaigns in charge of the Korean Peninsula policy of the US Joe Biden administration are gradually taking shape.
On the 26th (local time), Secretary of State Tony Blincoln, who was approved by the parliament, and the highest ranks who will deal with the ROK-US relations and North Korea issues are starting work, and key posts are being filled one after another.
One of the characteristics of the diplomatic and security lines of the Biden administration is that there are many experts who have dealt with the Korean peninsula directly in the past.
President Biden, like his predecessor, is known to have placed the North Korean nuclear issue as a priority for foreign policy, and it is noteworthy when the administration’s’new strategy’ will come to the fore.
Key Jun: The White House and the State Department suffered pain on the Korean peninsula… Korean-born Seong-Kim and anchorage?
At the White House, the National Security Council (NSC) appointment is the focus of attention.
Jake Sullivan was the national security adviser who oversees the NSC. Following the appointment of Kurt Campbell as the newly established Indo-Pacific coordinator, Ed Kagan is reportedly appointed as senior director of East Asia and Oceania.
The NSC is an organization that oversees foreign and security policies of the United States, including Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as its rivals China and Russia, but what attracts attention is that they are all familiar with issues on the Korean Peninsula.
Adviser Sullivan experienced North Korea issues while serving as the secretary’s office of the secretary of state and the vice presidential national security adviser. Coordinator Campbell served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs on the Korean Peninsula.
Senior Director Kagan was involved in the six-party talks with the North Korean nuclear program while working at the embassy in China, and served as the head of the State Department’s South Korea during the Barack Obama administration.
The State Department also has a lot of’Korean peninsula’, with Minister Blincoln, who was approved by the parliament on the same day. Secretary Blincoln was the Deputy Secretary of State at the end of the Obama administration, who was deeply involved in the “strategic patience” policy toward North Korea.
During the Bill Clinton administration, Deputy Secretary-nominee Wendy Sherman served as the State Department’s policy coordinator for North Korea, and visited Pyongyang with the then-secretary of state to meet with Kim Jong-il, Chairman of the Defense Commission.
It is also of interest that Seong Kim, former US Ambassador to Korea, acts as an acting assistant secretary in charge of East Asia and the Pacific.
He is a’North Korean Nuclear Weapon’, which has been through Deputy Assistant Secretary of the East Asia-Pacific, Special Representative for North Korea Policy, and Chief Representative of the Six-Party Talks, and was also put into the process of preparing for the first US-North Korea summit in 2018. It is an observation that it remains to be seen whether former Ambassador Kim will take off the label of’representation’ or temporarily take over as assistant secretary.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the East Asia-Pacific reportedly mentions the Korean seat of the Brookings Research Institute. He participated in the Biden Transition Committee, and there are reports that he recently quit the Brookings Institute.
The Ministry of Defense is evaluating that it should pay attention to the nominee of Deputy Minister Kathleen Hicks, who was involved in the implementation of the “pivot to Asia” during the Obama administration, while Secretary Lloyd Austin was recently approved by Congress to begin work.
Profession of’new strategy’ toward North Korea… when will the outlines come out?
Biden’s administration foretold to take a different approach to the Korean Peninsula than former President Donald Trump.
White House spokesman Jen Saki said on the 22nd that “we are still paying great attention to North Korea’s deterrence,” and mentioned the adoption of a’new strategy’.
However, it seems that a specific policy has not been established yet, as it is in the early days of the new administration, such as the remarks that “we will revisit the overall approach” (Blincoln) and “We will start with a thorough policy review” (Saki).
Although South Korea is in a position to succeed and develop the achievements of the Trump administration, such as the North American Singapore Agreement, the Biden administration is still in a state of principled attitude that it needs to be reviewed.
However, one of the common perceptions of the diplomatic and security lines is that it emphasizes a bottom-up approach from working-level negotiations, breaking away from former President Trump’s’top-down’ based on the decision of the summit.
In addition, under the recognition that former President Trump has alienated neighboring countries due to one-on-one negotiations, it emphasizes a multilateral approach that includes alliances such as Korea and Japan as well as neighboring countries such as China and Russia.
Some predict that it will take several months for the Biden administration to set the tone for North Korea policy, but there are also observations that it will settle its position sooner and make some attempts.
Campbell, for example, said in a think tank keynote earlier last month that although it was before entering the White House, the US administration needs to make an early decision on North Korea policy and send a message to North Korea.
It was interpreted to mean that if North Korea provokes before the new administration refines its policy toward North Korea, the relationship between the United States and the United States will cool down and the plate will be disrupted.
In fact, North Korea’s Chairman of the State Council Kim Jong-un proposed the’Principle of Kang Dae-gang and the First Line’ at the 8th Labor Party Congress at the beginning of the year, calling for the withdrawal of the US hostile policy toward North Korea. It also mentioned the development of weapons that would directly threaten the United States, such as the advancement of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the development of nuclear submarines.
This attitude led to the interpretation that it was intended to take a proportionate response while observing the actions of the Biden administration, but there are also many concerns that it will be difficult for North Korea to wait indefinitely.
There are also observations that the ROK-US combined military exercises scheduled for early March will serve as a big variable.
North Korea has expressed extreme resentment to the combined training and has steadily demanded to stop training, and the South Korean government has even stated its position that it can consult if necessary.
Biden’s officials have consistently cited the importance of training while showing negative perceptions about the effects of halting and curtailing combined training under the Trump administration.
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