South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is visiting the United States, visited the White House on May 21 for a meeting with President Biden, where the two sides will discuss North Korea, China, vaccines and the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, four South Korean semiconductor and battery-related companies, including Samsung, announced that they will make investments of up to tens of billions of dollars in the United States.
U.S. Vice President He Jinli received Moon first in the morning of 21 EST, and the two sides held a brief press conference after the meeting. He said that at a time when the world faces increasing threats to health, security and climate, there is a greater need for close cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea, and she also cited her home state of California as an example of sharing democratic and economic values, culture and history with each other.
“Globally, our alliance is critical to peace, security and prosperity in Northeast Asia, the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” she said, adding that the topics we will discuss today include strong partnerships and the challenges facing the Korean Peninsula. “
For his part, Moon stressed that South Korea is a responsible ally, sharing the values of democracy and freedom with the United States and walking side by side with it on the road to recovery from the new crown epidemic and in defense of a free and democratic international order.
“We support the ambitious U.S. climate initiative and will work with the U.S. to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and establish permanent peace.” Moon said at a press conference.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with U.S. Vice President He Jin-li in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2021 (AP)
Moon worries about North Korea’s Biden focus on China
Moon has previously said that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a “life-and-death issue” for South Korea and called on Biden to restart talks with North Korea. In an interview with the New York Times last month, Moon urged the U.S. to cooperate with China on North Korea and other global issues such as climate change, saying that the deteriorating relationship between the two powers could weaken any talks on North Korea’s denuclearization and that North Korea could benefit from increased tensions between the U.S. and China.
Michael Green, senior vice president for Asian and Japanese affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, believes Moon sees the North Korea issue as a top priority and will want more U.S. action in the talks, while the Biden administration, on the other hand, is hoping to draw South Korea closer to the U.S. and Japanese positions on the anti-China issue.
“South Korean pundits and scholars now describe the South Korean government’s position as strategically ambiguous. South Korea does not want to choose between its close ally, the United States, and its main economic and trade partner, China.” Gehring said.
Moon is the second foreign head to visit the White House and meet with Biden after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and it is Moon’s first trip since the outbreak of the new crown outbreak. According to the itinerary released by the White House, Biden will present the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Colonel Ralph Puckett, Jr. on Friday for his distinguished service during the Korean War, while Moon will attend the medal ceremony, the first since Biden took office, and the first foreign leader to attend. Biden and Moon will then meet and hold a joint press conference in the afternoon. The talks were underway at the time of this article’s deadline.
Moon’s visit to the U.S. was accompanied by semiconductor business leaders. According to Yonhap News Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce held a U.S.-Korea business roundtable on the morning of the 21st, attended by Moon Jae-in and representatives of Korean companies accompanying him, and four companies, including Samsung Electronics, announced investment plans totaling $39.4 billion at the meeting. Samsung announced that it will invest in a second foundry in Texas, with an estimated size of $17 billion. LG Energy Solution and battery factory SK Innovation plan to invest about $14 billion in separate and joint projects. In addition, Hyundai Motor announced plans to invest $7.4 billion to expand electric vehicle production and charging infrastructure in the United States; SK Hynix, another major semiconductor manufacturer, announced it would invest $1 billion in Silicon Valley to set up an R&D center.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki welcomed the announcement at a regular press conference on the afternoon of the 21st: “This reflects the long-standing strong economic ties between the United States and South Korea, and we hope to continue this type of economic cooperation.” However, the total investment amount mentioned by Saki is $25 billion, which is inconsistent with Yonhap News Agency, and the U.S. Department of Commerce did not respond to our request for comment by press time.
The timing comes at a time when the U.S. is facing a shortage of semiconductor supplies, and Suh Jin Kyo, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, believes that “some Korean companies will announce investment plans to build factories in the U.S. at the summit, rather than changing production in mainland China, an investment that could clearly help boost the U.S. economy by strengthening the country’s semiconductor manufacturing industry.”
Prior to that, Moon met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other House leaders on Thursday (20) to discuss U.S.-South Korea vaccine cooperation. According to Yonhap News Agency, Moon expressed his hope that the two countries would closely coordinate health and safety policies such as vaccine supply and would like to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. side on semiconductor and power cell production.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington, D.C., May 20, 2021 (AP)
“Semiconductors for vaccines?” Experts: tug at Moon’s domestic popularity
According to outside analysis, the talks are expected to be conditional on investments in the U.S. by South Korean companies such as semiconductors and batteries in exchange for the U.S. prioritizing the supply of vaccines to South Korea.
Before that, Moon had promised to reach mass immunization by November, but many countries around the world are facing a crisis of vaccine shortage. Sue Mi Terry, a senior South Korean researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), expects there will be “concrete and implementable results” to showcase the success of the summit, especially as Moon faces pressure from the lack of vaccines in South Korea, and vaccine cooperation with the U.S. will be a key tangible outcome.
Citing a Gallup Korea poll, Terry said: “[For the first time] people are more negative than positive about the government’s response to the outbreak, which is important because a successful response to the outbreak is one of the main things the Moon Jae-in administration can brag about, but this [South Korean] vaccine rollout did not go well, so President Moon Jae-in must leave Washington with some kind of vaccine promise or vaccine agreement.”
According to Korean media reports, the U.S. drug company Moderna is expected to sign a commissioning contract with Samsung Biologics, citing industry sources that representatives of Samsung Biologics also departed for the U.S. on the 19th.
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