Seoul, Washington discuss Biden’s visit to S. Korea in May

It was revealed on Tuesday (local time) that South Korea and the U.S. are discussing a plan to hold a summit between the new president of South Korea and U.S. President Joe Biden in South Korea at the end of May.

President Biden is planning a visit to Japan at the end of May to attend the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India. He may add a visit to South Korea to hold a summit meeting.

If the plan comes through, it will be President Biden’s first visit to South Korea since his inauguration in January last year. It is likely that he will have a summit meeting with the new president of South Korea who will be elected in the March 9 presidential election and inaugurated on May 10.

There are some concerns about preparation for a summit meeting with a tight schedule as the U.S. president may visit South Korea right after new South Korean president is elected. The historically shortest time period between the inauguration of a new South Korean president and an ROK-U.S. summit was 51 days when President Moon Jae-in visited the U.S. to meet with the then-U.S. President Donald Trump.

“South Korea and the U.S. are deeply concerned about North Korea’s series of missile launches and examining the ways to bring the North to a dialogue table,” said South Korean ambassador to the U.S. Lee Soo-hyuk. It was reported that South Korea and the U.S. are discussing a measure to raise the level of a communication channel with North Korea and additional sanctions against the North while South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong delivered a new proposition against the North to the U.S.

Lee said cooperation measures are under careful review regarding the situation in Ukraine. It was reported that the U.S. asked South Korea to join export control against Russia and supply natural gas to Europe that would be supplied to South Korea in the case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


weappon@donga.com