ROK-US alliance expands to technology and supply chain

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden have made it official to upgrade the scope of the ROK-US alliance from military and security to the economy, advanced technology, and supply chain during their first summit meeting. It is expected that the relationship between South Korea and the U.S. will be elevated to a global alliance encompassing security, economy, advanced technology, and supply chain beyond the alliance confined to the Korean Peninsula to deter North Korea.

“A type of supply chain alliance with the U.S. is needed to properly manage supply chain,” said a member of the South Korean presidential office during a briefing on Thursday, the day before President Biden’s visit to the country. “The value-based alliance with the U.S. with a focus on politics, military, and security is transitioning to a technology-based one.”

“The president will highlight the truly global nature of the U.S.-ROK alliance, from climate and energy and technology to economic growth and investment,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a briefing on Thursday (local time) regarding the ROK-US summit meeting. “President Biden will engage with technology and manufacturing leaders in Korea who are mobilizing billions of dollars in investment here in the United States to create thousands of good-paying American jobs.

“This will be his first trip as President to the Indo-Pacific,” said Sullivan on President Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan. “He will have the opportunity to reaffirm and reinforce two vital security alliances, to deepen two vibrant economic partnerships, to work with two fellow democracies to shape the rules of the road for the 21st century,” he added.

The White House said that President Biden will not visit the DMZ. “The president wanted to visit new places, instead of the DMZ, which he visited as a vice-president,” a diplomatic source said. It is viewed as a symbolic plan to highlight the ROK-US alliance on advanced technology by choosing to visit the semiconductor plant of Samsung Electronics in Pyeongtaek, rather than the DMZ.


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