Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
US secretary of state, defense chief to visit Seoul next week
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken / AP-Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit South Korea next week, the foreign and defense ministries announced Wednesday, marking the first trip to the country by senior members of the Joe Biden administration.
According to the ministries, Blinken and Austin will arrive in Seoul, March 17, for separate bilateral meetings with their South Korean counterparts Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Defense Minister Suh Wook.
The following day they will hold a two-plus-two dialogue, the first in five years since 2016. This dialogue format was first instituted in 2010 to highlight the alliance's posture against North Korean military threats.
During the meeting, they are expected to discuss bilateral issues including relations between South Korea and the United States, the North Korea nuclear issue and the transition of wartime operational control of South Korean troops from the U.S.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin / UPI-Yonhap
The meeting comes as Washington is rallying its allies in order to curb China's expansionist moves in the region, as evidenced by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, a strategic forum established in 2007 to counter Beijing. Currently, the Quad is comprised of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S., but Washington wants to develop it into an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by inviting South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam into a so-called Quad Plus.
In that respect, speculation is mounting that the U.S. may request Korea's participation in its “anti-China coalition” through either the Quad or a semiconductor alliance aimed at countering Beijing's technology push.
Earlier in the day, a senior official at Cheong Wa Dae said the government will consider the issue of whether to join the Quad, adding South Korea would actively cooperate in any regional security consultation format as long as the cooperation is made in a transparent, open and inclusive manner and abided by international norms.
Given that China is South Korea's largest trading partner, Seoul has been reluctant to join any U.S.-led anti-China coalition