US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln (left), who is visiting Japan, is meeting with Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu (right) at Rikura Guesthouse in Tokyo on the 16th. Tokyo = Yonhap News
Secretary of State Tony Blincoln and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who are two top security ministries of the US Biden administration, will visit Korea on the 17th and 18th. The two’s visit to Korea is the’stepping stone’ of the tour schedule, starting with a visit to Japan on the 15th and ending with a high-level meeting between the US and China in Anchorage, Alaska on the 18th. The reinforcement of the ROK-US alliance and the restoration of the trilateral cooperation system between the United States and Korea are the main agendas to be discussed in Korea. It is expected to send a joint message to North Korea at the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense (2+2), which will be held in five years.
Point ① Focus on restoring the triangular system of Korea, US, Japan… What is the Chinese checklist?
Ministers Blincoln and Austin will enter Japan through the Osan Air Force Base in Gyeonggi Province on the 17th after finishing their visit to Japan for 3 days and 2 nights. On this afternoon, they hold one-on-one talks with Foreign Minister Eui-yong Jeong and Defense Minister Seo-wook respectively.
The US State Department has emphasized the need for the US-Japan alliance, the ROK-US alliance, and the Korea-US-Japan trilateral cooperation even before this visit. The US judges that trilateral cooperation between the US and Japan is essential to increase the effectiveness of the Chinese siege policy. Accordingly, the issue of the past history of Korea and Japan, which is an obstacle to the trilateral security cooperation between the two ministers, may be mentioned during the two ministers’ visit to Korea.
Point ② What is the first message to North Korea in the era of Biden?
The diplomatic and defense 2+2 ministers’ meeting held on the 18th will focus on coordinating North Korea policy. On the 12th, Mr. Seong Kim, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said on the 12th, “Minister Blincoln’s visit will be a great opportunity for allies to provide high-level opinions in the process of reviewing US policy toward North Korea. The review will be completed within a few weeks. “We will be able to do it,” he said, suggesting that the last-minute policy coordination between South Korea and the United States will be achieved during the two ministers’ visit to Korea. However, the South Korean government wants to implement the 6·12 Singapore agreement between the North and the United States, and the Biden administration is not expected to coordinate messages toward North Korea as negatively to the denuclearization negotiations conducted by the Trump administration.
It is also a variable how sensitive the United States will respond to North Korea’s Labor Party Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong’s accusation on the 16th that it will be difficult to come back three years ago.
Point ③ Will’Quad’ appear as an unexpected agenda between Korea and the United States?
Some observers say that Ministers Blincoln and Austin will request South Korea’s participation in the’Quad’, a security alliance that the United States, Japan, Australia, and India have participated in, and will leave. Defense Minister Seo Wook drew a line at the National Assembly’s Defense Committee on the 16th, saying, “There was no official proposal from the United States, and I am unlikely to make such a proposal this time.” However, an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not rule out the possibility of being dealt with as an unexpected agenda, saying, “We did not pre-tune the agenda of the meeting in detail.”
In addition, opinions of both countries on the human rights crackdown in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region, North Korean human rights issues, and the Myanmar crisis can be expressed. The US and ROK ministers are scheduled to attend the 11th Special Agreement on Defense Cost Sharing (SMA), which was concluded on the 10th, immediately after the 2+2 talks, and will also be present at the Myeongsik.
Youngbin Jo reporter [email protected]
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