President Yoon Suk Yeol is often called the “diplomatic president.” His supporters also cite diplomacy as Yoon’s greatest accomplishment.
That might vary, depending on how one sees Yoon’s unduly values-based diplomacy obsessed with the trilateral alliance with the U.S. and Japan. His opponents say it is unwise and even risky in this multipolar world.
However, even critics do not deny one thing: Yoon has been far busier abroad than at home. Positing himself as the “No. 1 salesperson of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon has made 16 foreign trips since taking office 19 months ago. He went abroad 13 times this year, more than once a month. Yoon’s aides boast he has circled the globe two and a half times.
The president spent 57.8 billion won ($44.3 million) on foreign travel this year. It more than doubled the originally budgeted 24.9 billion won and tripled the yearly averages of 18.2 billion won and 16.3 billion won used by his two predecessors. Where has his fiscal stringency gone?
Now seems to be the time to check the actual effectiveness of presidential tours.
Take Yoon’s visit to the Netherlands last week. The presidential office emphasized that it was the first “state visit” and forged a “semiconductor alliance.” According to a media report, however, the Dutch government called in the Korean ambassador to protest some excessive demands by security and protocol teams from Seoul. The foreign ministry said it was just for coordinating details, but differences of view seem to have popped up.
The emphasis on the semiconductor alliance also appears redundant. Samsung Electronics and the Netherlands’ ASML had already been cooperating closely without needing their national leaders’ encouragement. Yoon and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte held the summit before the latter’s declared retirement from politics in a few months. Yoon also visited the European country only days after he returned from the U.K. and France. He should have visited Amsterdam a little earlier or far later.
Yes, governments should keep their promises, and leaders cannot know their foreign counterparts’ political plans or fortunes. However, they can be a bit flexible with plausible and inoffensive excuses and should try to ensure agreements’ validity despite changes in political leadership.
A case in point is Korea’s exports of defense equipment to Poland. Some foreign media outlets say the maximum 30 trillion won project may fall through due to the upcoming power transition in Poland. Koreans will be watching how their No. 1 sales agent saves his biggest accomplishment.
A far bigger problem will occur if power changes in the capitals of Korea's two key allies. U.S. President Joe Biden is increasingly unpopular and may be replaced by a Democratic rival or his Republican archrival Donald Trump. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s approval rating has fallen below 20 percent. Is Yoon prepared for political changes in Washington and Tokyo?
In contrast, the three rival leaders — Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin — will remain in power for the foreseeable future. That explains why other countries also seek flexibility and better adjust to leadership changes in major global powers. Under Yoon, Korea may find it incredibly difficult to do so.
Principles and philosophies also matter if a nation’s leader is its top salesperson. Yoon has strenuously tried to create a “second Middle East boom” in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. That’s no problem in itself. However, Korea has one-sidedly taken Israel’s side in its ongoing conflict with Palestine. In the conservative base of Daegu, residents obstruct the construction of a mosque for the city's Muslim community.
There are also other double standards. Yoon’s values diplomacy stresses democracy and human rights but does not seem to mind its Middle Eastern partners’ low standings in these categories. This inherent hypocrisy will not help Korea become a “global pivotal country,” as Yoon so seeks.
Koreans won’t fret about the high costs of the presidential tours if only they are spent more effectively and justifiably.
For example, Seoul abruptly committed over 1 trillion won in official development aid to the abortive attempt to bring the World Expo 2030 to Busan. It would have been far better had the government used the money at the 2023 World Climate Summit in Dubai to help developing countries struggling with climate disaster.
Taxpayers’ money must be spent more effectively, appropriately and transparently.