ED Crucial week for diplomacy
This combination of pictures created on Aug.19 shows President of South Korea Lee Jae-myung, left, in Seoul on June 4 and U.S. President Donald Trump, right, in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug.15. U.S. President Donald Trump will host his South Korean counterpart on Aug. 25 to hammer out details of their recent trade deal and discuss chips, shipbuilding and other topics, Seoul said Tuesday. AFP-Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung must enhance commitment to alliance, partnerships
President Lee Jae Myung has embarked on back-to-back summits since Saturday, first with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan and on Monday (local time) with U.S. President Donald Trump. These are his first two official overseas visits since taking office on June 4, and they are expected to reveal the core tenets of his five-year diplomatic blueprint, seeking stability amid a volatile economic and security climate. Diverging from the practice of first visiting Korea's most important major ally, the U.S., Lee went to Japan.
Lee's summit with Ishiba is being identified by both sides as a success. The Japanese media dubbed Lee's pick of Japan as first destination a "pleasant surprise." Despite the short time frame for setting up the Seoul-Tokyo summit, Lee and Ishiba were able to issue a joint statement — notably, the first joint statement to emerge from such a bilateral meeting in 17 years.
Lee and Ishiba agreed to resume a program of reciprocal state visits, expand their working holiday programs and other exchanges, and cooperate in defense, AI and economic security issues. The two reiterated cooperation in dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Both leaders stayed mostly on course, highlighting forward-looking cooperation.
"What's important is to identify as many mutually beneficial elements as possible," Lee said, seconded by Ishiba. The two leaders also discussed trade negotiations with the U.S., with both countries having agreed to blanket tariffs of 15 percent, but with other differences in investments in U.S. and in market access.
Both leaders grasp that there is more to be had from close cooperation, and a trilateral relationship, including the U.S., is a pillar of Trump's desire to counter China's aggressive posture in East Asia and the South China Sea. Acrimonious past historical issues should continue to be addressed, but the priority is recalibrating national interests.
It helps that both Lee and Ishiba took steps to appease their respective nations' concerns. Lee, in his interview with Japanese media Yomiuri Shimbun, said that he would respect previous administrations' agreements with Japan on wartime forced labor and sex slavery. Ishiba expressed “remorse” in his memorial address for the war dead on the 80th anniversary of its World War II surrender.
Following this summit — of which National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac touted its "strategic significance" — Lee will enter into an even higher-stakes sit-down with Trump. For the Lee-Trump, Seoul aims to discussing stabilizing trade issues, the the "modernization" of the Korea-U.S. alliance and expanding new areas of cooperation between the two allies, Wi has said. Despite the seeming neatness of those pursuits, the devil will be in the details. President Lee must pursue South Korea's interests by deploying his pragmatic line of diplomacy with clarity.
Already, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Trade Minister Kim Jung-kwan have flown ahead to meet with their U.S. counterparts, raising worries of possible tougher demands from the American side. In July, Korea reached a deal with the U.S. for a 15 percent tariff, $350 billion in investment in the U.S., $100 billion in energy purchases and granting greater market access for U.S. products. However, a written deal has yet to be produced, leaving not only working-level officials to fine-tune the details but also the potential for additional U.S. demands.
An even more thorny issue for South Korea is the U.S. push for the "modernization" of the alliance, including a possible hike in Seoul's portion of cost sharing for hosting U.S. forces and the "strategic flexibility" of the 28,500 U.S. personnel here. This also entails potential deployment to other areas of conflict in East Asia, notably Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Lee should reiterate that a 2006 bilateral agreement states that Seoul respects Washington's need for "strategic flexibility" but any such moves will need the consent of the Korean people. Lee should continue to stay on message in his meeting with Trump and highlight the strength of the bilateral alliance and the respect it deserves. He should also aggressively sell the synergy of Korea's proposed economic projects in industries such as shipbuilding and nuclear power plant. Lee, a formidable politician-turned-state leader, can also use the moment to demonstrate his chemistry, even with one of the most unpredictable state leader.