'South Korea secures stronger US commitment against North Korea's threats'

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden propose a toast during a banquet at the National Museum of Korea, Saturday, to welcome the latter's visit to Seoul. Yonhap

Two leaders' joint statement refrains from provoking China

By Kang Seung-woo

South Korea's new President Yoon Suk-yeol successfully finished his summit debut, Saturday, with U.S. President Joe Biden by securing Washington's detailed security commitment to Seoul against North Korea's ever-growing nuclear weapons and missile threats, according to diplomatic observers. This came after the two decided to come up with more detailed "action plans," while agreeing to upgrade their security-focused alliance into a global comprehensive strategic one that tackles 21st century challenges, mainly posed by China's assertiveness.

However, the new South Korean government, previously expected to take a hardline stance on Pyongyang, seems to have become less hawkish on its northern neighbor in line with the U.S. administration, which does not want to see tensions increase on the Korean Peninsula.

Yoon, who took office, May 10, and Biden held their first summit in Seoul on the day amid growing expectation of a North Korean military provocation, and the intensifying U.S.-Sino rivalry.

"On the whole, the two leaders' joint statement following their first summit has added action plans to last year's joint statement following a South Korea-U.S. summit," said Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, referring to a meeting between former President Moon Jae-in and Biden, during which they reaffirmed the strength of the bilateral alliance, with Seoul unequivocally standing with Washington on issues concerning U.S.-China relations and the competition for influence in the region.

President Yoon acknowledged that there would be a range of extended conventional deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threat beyond the nuclear umbrella, including expanding joint military exercises.

"But beyond that, there could be many other aspects, including fighters, bombers and missiles, and regarding the deployment of such strategic assets we discussed today, there will be more concrete discussions between our National Security Councils," Yoon said during a post-summit press conference at his office in Yongsan District.

The joint statement also said both leaders agreed to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the peninsula.

In the lead-up to the summit, Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of the National Security Office, also hinted, earlier this week, that the two sides will come up with an action plan to strengthen the reliable and effective extended deterrence, which the U.S. has provided to South Korea since removing all of its nuclear assets from the peninsula in 1991.

In that respect, the Yoon administration is seeking to reactivate regular meetings of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group, a high-level consultative mechanism to achieve North Korea's denuclearization through steadfast deterrence, which last met in January 2018.

"Although the envisaged action plans mean establishing consultative groups, the previous joint statement was conceptual and theoretical, showing how the allies should determine their policy direction, but this time they have decided to implement their previous agreements," Park said

However, Cho Han-bum, a senior researcher of the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the allies were still struggling to find clear-cut answers to Pyongyang's nuclear program, adding that it remains to be seen how discussions on extended deterrence will unfold.

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"Taking a closer look at the joint statement in terms of dealing with the North Korea nuclear issue, their previous stance was reiterated. In order to change North Korea's behavior, the U.S. should take a carrot and stick approach, but they failed to mention it in the joint statement," Cho said.

"There are growing threats and risks from North Korea's nuclear program, but the matter still seems to be on the back burner under the Biden administration. We need to secure more detailed U.S. cooperation on North Korean denuclearization in follow-up working-level negotiations."

The joint statement also said that the two heads of state reiterated their common goal of the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," not the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of North Korea, a reference hinting that the Yoon administration has toned down its stance on the North, according to Park. Until recently, South Korea and the U.S. had refrained from using the term not to provoke North Korea.

During the campaign, Yoon signaled that his administration will maintain a hawkish approach to the North Korean regime ― although the Biden administration, already preoccupied with other diplomatic issues such as its strategic competition with China and Russia's war in Ukraine, wants to settle for a status quo on the peninsula rather than taking actions that will stoke tensions.

President Yoon Suk-yeol welcomes U.S. President Joe Biden ahead of their summit at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap

Park said it indicates that the South Korean government may have accepted what the Biden administration wanted ― although Yoon mentioned the denuclearization of North Korea in his introductory speech.

"There is no mention of CVID and the denuclearization of North Korea in the joint statement, while Yoon encouraged North Korea to come forward for dialogue despite growing its threats. This shows that the Yoon administration has toned down its hardline stance on North Korea," the professor said.

Cho said the bilateral alliance, forged in blood during the Korean War 72 years ago, has evolved into a strategic economic and technological partnership, under which the allies will work together beyond the peninsula.

Ahead of the Yoon-Biden summit, there was speculation that the U.S. president's visit would be aimed at rallying allies to rearrange supply chains that exclude China ― a top priority of the Biden administration as part of its efforts to curb Beijing's global influence.

"The alliance has been reinforced as they will cooperate on economic issues as well as security ones," Cho said.

"And the key issue boils down to supply chains resilience, or excluding China from global supply chains."

In the run-up to the summit, the Chinese government had strongly responded to Biden's Asia trip, opposing the negative tendency of decoupling and cutting off chains. China is Korea's largest trading partner.

However, Park said South Korea and the U.S. seemed to have tried not to provoke China in the joint statement.

"As for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the joint statement said its principles are openness, transparency and inclusiveness. In other words, it said even though it will be launched without China, it will not exclude the country," Park said.

The IPEF, an economic initiative promoted by the U.S. to counter China's influence in the region, will be launched in Japan, Monday.

"In addition, last year's joint statement fully reflected the U.S. stance on China, so there was no further provocative messaging against Beijing in this year's statement," Park added.