One has to wonder why President Yoon Seok-yeol of South Korea bothered to go to the NATO get together in Madrid. However, Yoon is all about photo ops, with little on substance. In a short video clip taken inside the cabin of his flight to Europe, Yoon was asked by a reporter why he was going to Madrid. He deferred giving a specific answer. Maybe because he couldn't address the substantive issues. Other than this he spent most of his time shaking hands with the press entourage on his flight as if he were still campaigning on his deceptive man of the people platform.
The Europeans and Americans made it clear that the issues at the NATO meeting were to strengthen the alliance against both Russia and China in the ongoing cold war 2.0. So the question is, what is the point of aggravating China or Russia for South Korea? Yoon played his right wing pro-US, pro-Japan stance during the presidential campaign and just had a summit with President Biden in South Korea recently. After Yoon had already shown his hand during the presidential campaign, given away everything at the US-Korean summit, he lost any diplomatic leverage he could have exercised. So what's the point?
The "no look" video clip is just one of what was a series of diplomatic lapses in Madrid concerning Yoon and the "first lady" Kim Gon-hee, who were both obviously out of their element in the international diplomatic setting. A photograph of Yoon standing with the NATO Secretary General and the leaders of Japan, Australia and New Zealand with his eyes closed, was published on the NATO website and went viral in South Korea. Kim Gon-hee could not even be seen in one photograph of the NATO and partner leaders' wives, and was almost entirely out of view in others. Yoon's arrival in Madrid was evaluated as another humbling experience for South Koreans. There was no red carpet, no honor guard, apparently no official reception formalities of any kind when he arrived at the airport in Madrid. Each of these episodes were compared unfavorably to the "VVIP" reception afforded former president Moon Jae-in and his wife, Kim Jung-sook, in similar international settings.
What's next a Japanese - South Korean military alliance?
Was this treatment by NATO just the result of incompetence on the part of Yoon and his foreign policy team? Former Chancellor of the Korea National Diplomacy Academy, Kim Joon-hyung suggested that Yoon's foreign policy is reckless and dangerous. Is South Korea really going to ally itself with a Japan which is aiming to become a great military power again with the prospect of joint US-Japanese offensive strikes against North Korea? Kim suggested that Yoon appears headed in that direction. Under what conditions would such strikes take place? Is South Korea going to play the role of puppet behind the US and Japan? The lack of reflection on the potential damage to South Korean national interests caused by such a loss of independence in setting its foreign policy is dangerous according to Professor Kim. It's evident that at some point during the campaign Yoon had considered the possibility of Japanese forces on the Korean peninsula in the event of a national emergency. Really?
Yoon wasn't even invited to the G-7 "plus" meeting and Japan had made it very clear that there would be no one on one summit with Kishida, impromptu or otherwise, until this and this and that, etc. The recent revelation concerning a South Korean committee that Yoon proposes to establish, would appear intended to set aside the Mitsubishi slave labor litigation judgement. The disclosure also reveals that Japan is not making any real concessions or apologies and that a package similar to the "comfort women" agreement reached with the Park Geun-hye administration is on the table. Frankly it's disgraceful. There was a command performance three way summit among South Korea, the US, and Japan, about regional security issues, but most observers understand that Japan would not have attended with South Korea but for the presence of the US President Joe Biden. Yoon was quoted at one point saying that Russia should be held accountable for its actions. What conceivable benefit South Korea could obtain by interjecting itself into a European conflict is unknown.
Allegedly, Yoon's deputy National Security Advisor Kim Tae-hyo said that the agreement for the Yoon, Biden and Kishida to sit down wasn't reached until the "eleventh hour." This means Kishida was the hold out. Kim Tae-hyo is another who has made a comment showing that he could envison the presence of Japanese forces on the Korean peninsula in some future scenario. This apparently is where Yoon may have picked up this entirely impractical notion. Yet, Kishida wouldn't agree to an informal one on one summit with Yoon. Appearing to make concessions to Korea is bad for ones image in Japanese politics. This despite the fact that Yoon and his security advisor are both pro-Japan 친일 and hardliners 강경파 of the cold war variety. Korean Prime Minister Han Duk-soo ludicrously maintained that the South Korean president apparently joining in the NATO/anti-Sino front wouldn't have any significant economic repercussions on the South Korean economy. That economyy is already in the tank with 6.50 dollar a gallon gasoline (about 2200kw per ltr in Seoul), a growth rate projected at less than 2 percent, and a growing debt problem. China helped South Korea when Japan used retaliatory trade measures to damage its semi-conductor manufacturing sector. Is South Korea going to join efforts now to "decouple" from its largest trade partner in order to "safeguard its supply chain?"
The question is what did Yoon get for his humiliating experience in Madrid? Yoon got a photo op with Biden and Kishida (no one on one with Kishida); a deal for Samsung electronics in the Netherlands, apparently; and an opportunity to give a platitudious three minute speech about countries "governed by law." The latter hit a sore spot with critics given his effort to secure direct control of South Korea's police back home. That effort by Yoon is regarded by the political opposition as unlawful, and threatening a return to a police state. (See our previous post Police reforms point to authoritarian future for South Korea, June 28).
https://twitter.com/TimothyS/status/1541946177314324480
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1xUKdQcGkA&t=212s
세계가 주목할 기발한 외교술! 손금외교! / 하나하나씩 들어맞는 미국 싱크탱크의 예견!; News and people youtube, 7.2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqIVzCl5YJc
김어준의 뉴스공장 youtube 6.29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnh0N-m9DwY
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