| National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, right, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attend a joint press announcement after their meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Newsis |
Kim, Pelosi agree to foster cooperation in defense, technology
By Jung Min-ho
The parliamentary leaders of South Korea and the United States vowed to expand the bilateral alliance further in defense and technology, Thursday, the day Beijing launched unprecedented live-fire military drills near Taiwan in a warning to Washington.
National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met for talks in Seoul, where they agreed to improve the bilateral relationship to the “comprehensive” level through cooperation in security and the economy, including high-tech fields like semiconductors, to handle challenges facing both countries more effectively.
The meeting comes just a day after Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, where she pledged Washington's “ironclad” commitment to defending democracy on the self-governing island at her meeting with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen. Beijing, which claims the island as its territory, reacted furiously with military drills that would effectively blockade it. Her visit was also denounced by China's allies, including Russia and North Korea.
In a joint statement, Kim and Pelosi reaffirmed their joint efforts for dealing with the North's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
“Both sides expressed concerns about the dire situation of North Korea's growing threat,” it says. “We support the efforts of the two governments to achieve practical denuclearization and peace through international cooperation and diplomatic dialogues, based on the strong and extended deterrence against the North.”
North Korea is believed to have completed preparation of its seventh nuclear weapons test. But some experts say the regime may delay it for at least a few months until the end of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the country's most important political event in years.
The next year marks the 70th anniversary of the Seoul-Washington alliance. Kim and Pelosi said they would work to adopt a resolution to celebrate the occasion in each of their legislatures.
Calling security, economy and governance the “three pillars” of the delegation's visit, Pelosi said the alliance has matured into “a warm friendship” after it was born out of urgency and security crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
She added that the Wall of Remembrance, which was unveiled to the public in Washington July 27 to mark the 69th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, stands as a symbol of the two countries' alliance.
| Chinese military helicopters fly past Pingtan Island in Fujian province, one of mainland China's closest points from Taiwan, Thursday, ahead of major military drills off Taiwan following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the self-ruled island. AFP-Yonhap |
The meeting demonstrated that Seoul-Washington relations go beyond mere economic interests at a time when South Korea faces growing pressure to choose a side amid the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the Asia-Pacific region.
After Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Chinese navy ships and fighter jets have reportedly made brief multiple incursions of the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait, increasing tensions. Not far away, the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was conducting scheduled operations in the Philippine Sea in the Western Pacific, according to the U.S. Navy.
On Wednesday, Kim Seung-kyum, the new chief of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his U.S. counterpart, Mark Milley, vowed to strengthen their cooperation against security threats surrounding the Korean Peninsula, most notably North Korea's nuclear weapons.
During a virtual meeting, they also agreed to solidify the two countries' joint defense posture through the upcoming Ulchi Focus Shield training (Aug. 22 to Sept. 1). It is regarded as a revival of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise abolished in 2018 amid the South's efforts to establish peace through a conciliatory approach to Pyongyang.
After Kim expressed appreciation for the U.S. defense support, Milley said Washington's commitment has been solid over the past 70 years and will remain that way.