When will Biden’s’Bell’ ring… The fate of the Korean peninsula seen through the’normal currency sequence number’

US President Joe Biden, who took office on the 20th, is conducting a summit diplomacy by phone.

On the 22nd, President Biden finished talking to allies in Europe, starting with Canada. Following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s secretary general and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide on the 28th.

There are general rules for telephone diplomacy in the United States. This is the procedure from neighboring allies such as Canada to European allies and Asian allies. However, the order will change depending on the interests of the new administration and the diplomatic strategy to be promoted in the future. For this reason, the leaders of each country have no choice but to pay attention to the order of the US president’s calls.

US President Joe Biden is announcing countermeasures related to Corona 19 at the White House State Dining Room on the 26th (local time). [AP=연합뉴스]

It was President Barack Obama who took office on January 20, 2009, who made the biggest change.

On the 21st, the day after his inauguration, Omaba made the first phone call with the leaders of the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. At that time, the Middle East was literally a’gunpowder’. The diplomacy of the Omaba administration, which was the first to contact the leaders here, was actually concentrated in the Middle East. During his tenure, he also fought a war with Afghanistan.

The issue of the Korean peninsula has been relatively alienated. This was also reflected in the order of telephone diplomacy.

Following the Middle East, President Obama spoke with his European allies, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The first phone call with President Lee Myung-bak was on February 3, two weeks after taking office. Compared to Japan, it is five days later. This means that the Obama administration recognized the Korean Peninsula issue as a’subordinate’.

US President Barack Obama urgently announced that on May 1, 2011 at 11:35 p.m. at 11:35 p.m., in Afghanistan at 11:35 p.m., Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed.[백악관]

This recognition led to a policy toward North Korea called’strategic patience’. In summary, it is a strategy to wait for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

North Korea responded to the US strategy with the second nuclear test. In 2012, the long-range missile’Gwangmyeongseong 3’was launched, and the third nuclear test was conducted in February of the following year. In particular, in 2016, when the US presidential election was held, there were 20 provocations, including the 4th and 5th nuclear tests and missile launches.

In this situation, former President Donald Trump, who took office in January 2017, has relatively advanced the normal currency between Korea and the United States.

Trump spoke with the leaders of Canada, Israel and India first, starting with the UK. The next was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as top European allies such as Germany and France. In particular, calls were made with Japan, which took the lead in the Trump administration’s’China blockade strategy’, before European countries. The call with Chinese President Xi Jinping took place on February 10, three weeks after taking office. It was a signal of the US-China conflict that continued throughout Trump’s tenure.

At that time, South Korea was the agency of authority for Hwang Gyo-an due to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. Nevertheless, the normal currency was settled on January 29, the day after the US-Japan call. This is a result of the US’s awareness of the situation, which increased attention to the Korean Peninsula due to North Korean provocations.

US President Donald Trump (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Reuters = Yonhap News

As of the start of the Biden administration, inter-Korean relations between the North and the United States are going through a long crunch. President Moon Jae-in wants President Biden to place the issue of the Korean peninsula as a diplomatic priority. In fact, at the New Year’s conference on the 18th, “I don’t think the Biden administration will postpone the North Korean-US dialogue and the North Korean-US issues to the second. “The North Korean issue could still have a priority for the Biden government.”

However, the telephone diplomacy, which reflects the strategic priorities of the Biden administration, is somewhat different from President Moon’s expectations.

The commonality of the countries that President Biden has been calling for priority so far is where they can directly participate in or influence the US-led blockade of China. It is clear that the top priority diplomatic task for the United States is China, not the Korean Peninsula. In particular, after a phone call with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the 28th, it was reported that “they agreed to further promote cooperation between Japan, the United States, Australia and India.” These are the’Quad’ participants in the Indo-Pacific region with China in mind.

These air currents are also confirmed through diplomatic channels.

US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln shared a press release after a series of calls with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, emphasizing’Korea-US-Japan cooperation’, the main pillar to block China in East Asia. did. In a call with the Philippine Foreign Minister, “The United States promises to work with Southeast Asian countries against the pressures of the Chinese Communist Party,” he directly checked China. However, at the first press conference on the 27th, there was no mention of the Korean Peninsula.

President Moon Jae-in speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Blue House on the afternoon of the 26th. [사진제공=청와대]

In this situation, President Moon said in a normal call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 26th, “I urge China to play a constructive role in solving problems through dialogue regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula.” Xi said, “The realization of denuclearization is in the common interest. China highly appreciates and actively supports President Moon.” The People’s Daily of China reported President Moon’s remarks as a major article on the front page, but it is observed that the intention is to contain the United States.

Reporter Kang Tae-hwa [email protected]