[역대 최단기 한·미회담] Biden comes before Japan… The core agenda is the public encirclement surrounding ‘IPEF’

The Korea-US summit will be held 11 days after the inauguration of President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol next month. As a key agenda item, South Korea’s participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for cooperation with North Korea and the US to contain China is cited.

The White House announced on the 27th (local time) that US President Joe Biden will tour Japan and South Korea from the 20th to the 24th of next month. Among them, he will stay in Korea on the 20th and 22nd and meet with Yoon-eun on the 21st. As a result, President-elect Yoon held the first Korea-US summit in the shortest period of time since his inauguration.

It is the first visit by President Biden to South Korea and Japan since taking office in January last year. It is the first time in 29 years for a US president to visit Korea before the first visit of the US since taking office. Former US President Bill Clinton visited South Korea in July 1993 and met with then-President Kim Young-sam.

President Biden was originally scheduled to visit Japan at the end of May to attend the ‘Quad’ summit, a consultative group of four countries, the United States, Japan, India and Australia. The possibility of a visit to Korea was raised as a result of this, and it was unusual for him to visit Korea before Japan.

The first South Korea-US summit in his term is meaningful as the first step in balancing the overall direction of the alliance, North Korea stance, and regional strategy over the next five years.

The most urgent issue is responding to North Korea’s armed provocations. North Korea, which has not hesitated to launch missiles since the beginning of the year, is not hiding its preparations for a nuclear test. In addition to the restoration of Tunnel 3 at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, during a military parade on the 25th, Chairman Kim Jong-un directly announced that “a nuclear weapon can be used if there is an attempt to usurp the country’s scriptural interests.” As a result, tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula.

It is also expected to serve as an opportunity to strengthen the trilateral alliance between Korea, the United States, and Japan, and to visualize the level of South Korea’s participation in the US’s containment of the public. Analysts analyzed that the background of President Biden’s visit to Korea amidst the noise of the Ukraine crisis and internal economic problems lies in the intention of ‘checking China’.

In fact, the White House used the phrase “a free and open Indo-Pacific” when announcing President Biden’s visit to Korea and Japan, which is a diplomatic investigation aimed at China. In addition, during the presidential election, President-elect Yoon announced the principle of full-scale participation in the Quad-affiliated vaccine, climate change, and new technology working group. He also said that he is willing to actively participate in the IPEF, which is a public restraint.

At a written briefing on the same day, President-elect Bae Hyun-jin said, “President-elect Yoon will have in-depth discussions with President Biden on a wide range of issues, such as the development of the South Korea-US alliance, coordination of policies toward North Korea, economic security, and major regional and international issues.” “I expect that a historical turning point will be prepared for further development of the comprehensive strategic alliance between the two countries,” he said.

Meanwhile, prior to the inauguration of President-elect Yoon, on the 3rd of next month, talks are scheduled for the chief nuclear representatives of North Korea and South Korea. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kyu-deok Noh, head of the Korean Peninsula peace negotiation headquarters, will meet with Chinese government special representative for the Korean Peninsula affairs Liu Xiaoming, who will visit Korea in early May to discuss North Korea policy.

At a briefing on the same day, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Choi Young-sam said, “This is the first visit to Korea since President Ryu took office and the first face-to-face meeting between the chief nuclear representatives of South Korea and China. We plan to discuss ways to do this,” he said.