U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in hold a joint news conference after a day of talks at the White House on May 21, 2021.
President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced a vaccine partnership between the United States and South Korea to expand vaccine production and expand the global supply of vaccines during a meeting at the White House Friday.
“We will strengthen our ability to fight epidemics and respond to future biological threats,” Biden said at a joint news conference with Moon on Friday night.
So far, South Korea has vaccinated only 3 percent of its 52 million people, but it aims to achieve herd immunity by November. Under the agreement, the U.S. will help South Korea achieve that goal, including providing vaccines to 550,000 South Korean military personnel working alongside U.S. troops in the region.
The two leaders also focused on climate change and regional security issues, including partnerships with other allies in the region. They discussed the democracy crisis in Burma, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and cooperation in high-tech industries.
Biden expressed appreciation for South Korean companies such as Samsung (Samsung), Hyundai (Hyundai), SK and LG. These South Korean companies announced more than $25 billion in new investments in the United States. These investments are intended to support the Biden administration’s goal of building supply chain resilience in competition with the Chinese Communist Party.
Last month, the U.S. and South Korea reached an agreement on a special measure for Seoul to share the cost of stationing U.S. troops in South Korea. Negotiations on the special measures agreement stalled last year when then-President Donald Trump demanded a five-fold increase in South Korea’s share of the costs.
“The atmosphere between the two countries is very good, so they really want to show the strength of the alliance,” said Kim Sung-mi (Sue Mi Terry), a senior fellow on North Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Moon is the second foreign leader Biden has hosted since his inauguration in January. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga visited the White House in April. The visits show the importance Washington places on Asia as it seeks to counterbalance the influence of the Chinese Communist Party and reflect Seoul’s growing confidence in its engagement with the United States.
“South Korea has been ambivalent about how to respond to the competition between the U.S. and China,” said Scott Snyder, director of the U.S.-Korea Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. By placing regional cooperation in the context of providing public goods (including vaccines), supply chain resilience and climate change cooperation, the Biden administration has shifted regional engagement away from the anti-China focus of the Trump administration, he said.
Snyder said, “It’s a more productive basis on which the South Korean government can work with the U.S. and other partners without having to see that cooperation as being against China.”
North Korea
The two leaders reiterated their commitment to stopping North Korea’s nuclear program.
Biden said, “We are all deeply concerned about the current situation.”
The president announced that he has appointed Sung Kim, a career diplomat with expertise in North Korean policy, as his administration seeks to establish diplomatic relations with the “hermit state” of North Korea as his special envoy to the country.
Biden said, “As we move toward the ultimate goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, both of our countries are also willing to engage diplomatically with North Korea and take pragmatic steps to ease tensions.”
Moon stressed that the two countries are on the same page in terms of a timeline for denuclearization.
“The U.S. administration has announced the principles for negotiations with North Korea: well-calibrated, pragmatic, step-by-step, gradual, and very flexible,” Moon said. “This is our consensus with the United States.”
Moon is eager to cement his legacy as a peacemaker before he leaves office next year. But analysts say the prospects for stopping Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions are dim.
“There is no forward momentum on North Korea. There is no breakthrough that can be expected yet,” said Kim Sung-mi of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Despite personal diplomacy between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and fuel reserves have moved forward in the past four years.
Kim Sung-mi said, “Our relationship with North Korea is at an impasse, and North Korea is likely to revert to a provocative approach soon.”
Just a few weeks ago, the Biden administration ended a months-long review of North Korea policy. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sachs said it showed that the Biden administration had taken a “calibrated, practical approach” that differed from the approach of previous administrations. She described the approach as a middle way between Trump’s strategy to reach a grand bargain and the “strategic patience” of the Obama era.
Analysts say the Biden administration’s North Korea policy lacks detail.
“This administration wants to leave itself as much room as possible,” said Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Both to keep the door open for possible dialogue with North Korea and to not be embarrassed when North Korea reverts to provocation.”
Also on Friday, the two leaders presented the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. for his heroic service during the Korean War. It was the first time a foreign leader had attended such an award ceremony.
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