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| U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines leaves a hotel in Seoul, Thursday, to visit the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Koreas. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines' visits to South Korea and Japan are being interpreted as moves to pressure China and North Korea, after she opened up her trip to the media in an apparent move to showcase the close cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, according to analysts.
Government sources said Haines visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border region between the two Koreas, Thursday, after arriving in the South the previous day at the U.S.'s Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
The intelligence chief came here after attending a trilateral meeting with South Korea's National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won and Japan's Cabinet Intelligence Director Hiroaki Takizawa in Tokyo earlier on Wednesday.
The sources said Haines is expected to call at Cheong Wa Dae, Friday, for a meeting with President Moon Jae-in or his security advisor Suh Hoon. If the meeting takes place, President Joe Biden's new North Korea policy and cooperation between Seoul and Washington are anticipated to be on the agenda. However, the presidential office refused to confirm any details.
Haines oversees the entire U.S. intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, reporting directly to the U.S. president.
Generally, visits by U.S. intelligence chiefs to South Korea are not made public, and this is the first time in 26 months that such a trip has been open to media outlets since former DNI Dan Coats' visit in March 2019.
Haines' consecutive visits to Japan and South Korea are interpreted as emphasizing the close cooperation between Washington and its Asian allies, and to pressure China, given her hardline stance toward Beijing.
In an annual threat assessment released last month, the DNI's office described China as an "unparalleled" priority in security matters, saying the country "increasingly is a near-peer competitor, challenging the United States in multiple arenas."
"Since Haines is an intelligence chief, most of her activities are not for public knowledge," said Shin Beom-chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. "So this should be understood as a political message to China showing that the trilateral relationship is this strong."
On a similar note, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Japan and South Korea together in March, and delivered remarks aimed at "containing China."
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| A motorcade carrying U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines travels in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on a visit to the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea, Thursday. Yonhap |
Haines' visit to the DMZ was seen as a message to North Korea to desist from engaging in provocative actions and come forward for negotiations.
While the Biden administration has recently completed its North Korea policy review, it has not revealed any details, although it has contacted Pyongyang to explain the new approach. Against this backdrop, Haines' presence in the border area bears meaning, according to North Korea watchers.
"It is rare event to let the public know about a U.S. intelligence chief visiting South Korea," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University. "Her visit to the DMZ is a message of deterrence, that the three countries are cooperating and Pyongyang should not undertake any provocations."
Shin also said that Haines' visit was a message for the North to refrain from provocative action, while Washington seeks to engage Pyongyang in talks through other channels.
In the wake of the visit, hope is growing among some liberal politicians ― who cite the former DNI Coats' visit to South Korea ― on a potential improvement in the current stalemate in inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea relations. Three months after Coats' meeting with President Moon, the leaders of the two Koreas and the U.S. held a trilateral meeting at the DMZ.
