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| President Park Geun-hye talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during Friendship Night for South Koreans and Americans in Washington, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
ROK-US alliance stressed as linchpin of rebalancing policy in the Asia-Pacific region
By Kang Seung-woo
WASHINGTON ― President Park Geun-hye said Wednesday that the United States is South Korea's most trustworthy ally, stressing that the friendship between Seoul and Washington will not be shaken.
Her remarks are seen as a bid to ease U.S. concerns over Korea's closer ties with China.
Park reaffirmed that solid alliance between Seoul and Washington is the biggest deterrence against North Korean threats.
"Korea's rapid economic growth was possible on the back of the solid ROK-U.S. alliance, friendship and mutual trust," Park said during a reception on the second day of her four-day trip.
Park and U.S. President Barack Obama are expected to reaffirm their commitment to North Korea's denuclearization when they hold summit talks Saturday (KST).
High-profiled incumbent and former U.S. government officials attended the event, including Secretary of State John Kerry, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez and former Defense Secretary and Senator William Cohen.
Kerry said in a speech that "Our alliance cannot be explained simply by the alignment of security and material interests ― although, obviously, that helps ― but is based much more on the discovery long ago and repeated over and over again that when Americans and Koreans get together, good things happen."
"In times that are good and in those that are not so good, our countries have always had each other's back."
President Park said that when Korea achieved liberation and dealt with the aftermath of the Korean War, the U.S. stood there to help it overcome difficulties.
"The U.S. is a reliable partner and the ROK-U.S. alliance is a linchpin of the U.S. rebalancing policy in the Asia-Pacific region," the President said.
Her remarks came as Park is seen by some as leaning too close to a rising China, creating a headache for the U.S. government trying to contain Beijing in Northeast Asia.
Since her inauguration in 2013, Park has held a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping five times and Korea has joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that the U.S. opposes.
In addition, Park traveled to China last month to attend a military parade marking the end of World War II despite the absence of U.S. President Barack Obama and many Western leaders.
As a result, diplomatic experts said that Park should dispel such U.S. concerns and reaffirm the commitment to the 62-year-old alliance during her four-day official visit to the U.S.
In a similar gesture, Park began her itinerary by visiting the Korean War Veterans Memorial and paying tribute to fallen Korean War Veterans earlier in the day.
Park expects bilateral relations to further improve in the future.
"After visiting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Goddard Space Flight Center, I found that the alliance is already turning to the future," she said.
"And the alliance's future vision that counts most is the unification of the Korean Peninsula that will be true to the righteous world order. I sincerely hope that Korea and the U.S. will jointly move toward that future."
She concluded: "For the past 60 years, the two nations have written a success story of which everybody is jealous and from now on, we will work together to produce another story that will use the fruits of the success for others."
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