CNN summarizes US objectives during President Biden's visit to South Korea:
.…Biden has sought on his trip to link the parallel sets of economic and security issues that have emerged in his discussions with leaders. His trade outline, viewed as a scaled-down alternative to the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact scrapped by his predecessor, is expected to place heavy emphasis on resilient supply chains decoupled from Chinese parts — a message he conveyed at multiple points in Seoul.
Among the other myriad issues he hopes to raise — which include regional security, trade, the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war — is the question of improving ties between the two countries he is visiting this week. Relations between Japan and South Korea have worsened over recent years, a combination of long-simmering historical resentments and more recent trade actions.
Biden told reporters in Seoul on Saturday “it’s critically important” the US, South Korea and Japan have a “very close trilateral relationship.*
*Biden set to wrap up South Korean leg of his first Asia trip as President with visit to US troops, CNN by Kevin Liptak, 5.21.22;
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/21/politics/joe-biden-south-korea-japan-sunday/index.html
In addition to his numerous other character flaws, President Yoon Seok-yeol of South Korea, again demonstrates his incompetence in foreign affairs and national security by agreeing in principle to new directions in South Korean foreign policy after only ten days in office. The summit with President Biden took place without an opportunity for ministerial level studies of the impact of any “decoupling” from China on South Korean economics, nor the security implications of totally repudiating the tacit agreements the US made at Singapore with North Korea, and adopting what is in essence an anti-China policy by widening the scope of the alliance with the US. There was virtually no prior opportunity for negotiations at the working level. Yoon and his national security staff are “amateurs” who have virtually conceded to every US demand with no clear assessment of the consequences. In fact, Yoon telegraphed his positions before he even took office. The notion that the US and Japan know better how to handle South Korean national interests is dubious at best.
The CNN article, along with others in western media, refers to Yoon’s presidential office in the former MND building on the old Yongsan military base as the “People’s House.” Isn't the National Assembly Building in Yoido the "People's House?" What the western media miss is former Ministery of National Defense building's unsuitability to replace the Blue House as the national command center. Yoon’s refusal to move into the Blue House has resulted in extensive costs and disrupted command and control of South Korea’s emergency response system in the event of military provocations or national disasters. Yoon’s transition team made clear before he assumed office that the so called “People’s House” would in fact be largely dedicated to “public private partnerships,” installed on the top five floors which would allow lobbyists from the private sector to bargain with Yoon’s staff, over how to carve up South Korea’s state owned assets, including airports, railways, power companies, and other public assets for their own benefit. One of the lower floors will be reserved for the conservative media which will continue its role as a publicity organ for the conservative party and its corporate backers. Hypocritically, Yoon's office had police establish a 100 meter peripheral no public assembly zone around the Yongsan Garrison near the MND location on Itawwonno and the Samgakchi area which was struck down, in part, by two court decisions thus far, which nevertheless placed substantial constraints on such assemblies. There were small demonstrations against Biden and the US military at various points during the Biden visit to South Korea. The general thrust of the demonstrations was that Biden and the US military were creating a crisis that would lead to war.
Here’s a paragraph from the joint statement posted at the official US government web sites:
President Yoon and President Biden emphasize that the path to dialogue remains open toward peaceful and diplomatic resolution with the DPRK and call on DPRK to return to negotiations. President Yoon outlined his vision to normalize inter-Korean relationship through an audacious plan aimed at a denuclearized and prosperous Korean peninsula and President Biden expresses his support for inter-Korean cooperation. Both leaders underscore the importance of ROK-U.S.-Japan trilateral cooperation for responding to the DPRK’s challenges, protecting shared security and prosperity, upholding common values, and bolstering the rules-based international order.
Yoon has no such “audacious plan,” and neither does Biden. President Biden like hia predecessors intends to provide no support for “inter-Korean cooperation,” in fact, the US and Japan are consistently opposed to it. The policy is regime change in North Korea, and no amount of misleading verbiage or dissimulation is going to change that. The consistent mischaracterizations of prior president Moon Jae-in as an appeaser, weak on national defense, a "pinko" and other McCarthyite smears in US media are likely to widen the domestic rift in South Korean politics. Biden reportedly made a ten minute courtesy call to former President Moon which appears to be an effort to offset some of the negative reaction and ill will fomented by US and Japanese policies toward the former administration and Korea in general. Yoon’s support is the lowest of any South Korean president at the outset of his administration. In other words, there is no honeymoon period for the candidate the US obviously preferred to take office, and the US visit is unlikely to help.
惑世誣民 혹세무민
No comments:
Post a Comment