Goldberg pick, harbinger of US' hawkish North Korea policy?

North Korea fires two suspected ballistic missiles

By Kang Seung-woo

U.S. President Joe Biden nominated a former sanctions enforcer to be his first ambassador to South Korea, but it is too early to predict if the United States will return to a hardline stance against North Korea, according to diplomatic observers.

According to diplomatic sources, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg has been tapped to head the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the South Korean government is now said to be in the process of granting an agrement, which refers to a state approval of accepting a member of a diplomatic mission from a foreign country.

Since the last U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris, resigned and left the country on Jan. 20, 2021, the post has remained unfilled, with U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Korea Christopher Del Corso currently serving as acting ambassador.

News of Goldberg's nomination have fueled speculation in South Korea that the U.S. government will adopt a hardline policy toward Pyongyang, which has refused to return to the negotiating table and continued instead to test-fire ballistic missiles in a show of force. Such speculation is based on his past career as the coordinator for the implementation of United Nations (U.N.) sanctions on North Korea under the Barack Obama administration.

“I think the Biden administration has nominated a big shot among Career Ambassadors, the State Department's highest diplomatic rank, given his past overseas assignments, but given that his one-year tenure from 2009 to 2010 as coordinator for implementation of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, I think it is hasty to jump to conclusions that the U.S. will increase sanctions pressure on the North,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University.

“Considering his past career, including three ambassadorial posts in Bolivia, the Philippines and Colombia, he has a good understanding of the key U.S. foreign policy principles and in this regard, he is a good fit to effectively deal with U.S. strategic competition with China, which is a greater interest to Washington, as well as North Korea's nuclear issue.”

Shin Beom-chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, presented a similar view.

“Considering South Korea's status in East Asian security, the U.S. has decided to send a career diplomat, who is well versed in the situation on the Korean Peninsula. However, it's going too far to say the U.S. will be hawkish on North Korea because Goldberg served as a sanctions enforcer,” Shin said.

“Usually, career diplomats tend to stick to the stance of a current administration, so we need to refrain from predicating that the new ambassador would be a hardliner on North Korea.”

However, Shin added that the Biden administration may have picked him in consideration of additional sanctions on North Korea in the event of the Kim Jong-un regime ramping up the magnitude of its provocative actions.

On Thursday, North Korea staged its sixth show of force this year by firing two suspected short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, according to the South Korean military.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from in and around Hamhung, a city in North Korea's east coast, at around 8 a.m. and 8:05 a.m., respectively, and the missiles flew about 190 kilometers at a top altitude of 20 kilometers.

The launches came one day after Goldberg's nomination came to light, raising speculation that the provocations may have to do with North Korea's dissatisfaction with Biden's pick. But experts rejected that speculation.

“The recent series of missile launches pertain to its leader's efforts to double down on its nuclear arms buildup, while the U.N. sanctions committee cannot properly operate due to the U.S.-China rivalry and the Moon Jae-in administration cannot stop it from military activities,” Shin said.