| President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, alongside his wife, Kim Keon Hee, waves as he disembarks the presidential jet at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Monday (local time), for his six-day trip to the United States. He will hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance. Yonhap |
President eyes stronger alliance in security, tech during US visit
By Nam Hyun-woo
WASHINGTON D.C. ― President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived in Washington D.C., Monday (local time), as he kicked off his six-day state visit to the United States. During his stay, he will hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance.
Yoon will stay in the U.S. until April 29 and attend a slew of ceremonies commemorating the alliance and economic events that will further deepen the two countries' economic partnership.
He will be the first South Korean president since Lee Myung-bak in 2011 to pay a state visit to the U.S., and it will be Yoon's sixth meeting with Biden, following those in Seoul last May and then in Madrid, London, New York and Phnom Penh.
According to the presidential office, Yoon and Biden will hold a summit at the White House on April 26 after an official welcoming ceremony and before a state dinner where they will be joined by first ladies Kim Keon Hee and Jill Biden.
During his stay, Yoon is expected to focus on turning South Korea into a global strategic partner of the U.S. by strengthening their bilateral alliance not only in security, but also in artificial intelligence, space cooperation and advanced technology.
Specifically, the summit's agendas will include strengthening the two countries' joint defense posture, enhancing U.S. extended deterrence against North Korea, deeper and broader partnerships in supply chains and economic security, and cooperation in cybersecurity and space.
The summit will be an inflection point not only for South Korea-U.S. relations, but also for the entire Northeast Asian diplomatic dynamics, because Yoon and Biden are anticipated to make similar voices on the Ukraine War and tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which are issues to which Russia and China are showing sensitive reactions.
Yoon has drawn thorny responses from Beijing and Moscow, respectively, after expressing his view during a recent media interview that South Korea may provide military aid to Ukraine, and Seoul absolutely opposes attempts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by force. Watchers say South Korea's relations with Russia and China could chill further depending on the content of the Yoon-Biden summit statement regarding the two issues.
A day before holding the summit, Yoon will attend forums and business roundtables joined by business leaders of the two countries and visit NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
On April 27, Yoon will deliver an address before a joint session of Congress and look back on the past 70 years of the bilateral alliance and suggest a future blue print for the relationship. He will then attend a luncheon hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
After the luncheon, Yoon will receive a briefing from U.S. military leaders on the security status, which the South Korean presidential office said will be “a symbolic moment for deepening security cooperation between the two countries.”
Later that day, Yoon will travel to Boston and hold discussions on April 28 with digital and bio scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will also deliver an address at Harvard University the same day.