[ANALYSIS] Is Yoon-Biden summit a win-win for both S.Korea, US?

President Yoon Suk Yeol listens as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., Wednesday (local time). Reuters-Yonhap

Experts divided over outcomes of summit to mark 70th anniversary of alliance

By Lee Hyo-jin

The summit between President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden ended on a high note, with the two leaders vowing to deepen the bilateral partnership in multiple areas including security and the economy.

However, diplomatic observers had differing assessments of the detailed outcomes of the meeting. While some hailed the success of the win-win negotiation, others expressed regrets that Seoul made too many concessions in return for Washington's strengthened nuclear umbrella.

Yoon is currently on a state visit to Washington marking the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance. The six-day visit included a summit between the two leaders on Wednesday (local time), as well as a slew of ceremonies commemorating the seven decades of bilateral ties.

Ahn Ho-young, a former South Korean ambassador to the U.S., saw the state visit as a success both in symbol and substance, through which the two nations were able to reaffirm their strong alliance.

"I would say that the summit was a win-win for both sides," Ahn told The Korea Times.

In addition to the joint agreement to bolster investment, trade, technological and people-to-people ties, he also gave high scores to the Washington Declaration, a separate document signed between Yoon and Biden, under which the U.S. promised stronger extended deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threats.

Under the agreement, Seoul and Washington will establish a "Nuclear Consultative Group," an unprecedented consultative body to "strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the nonproliferation regime."

"The U.S. has been very reluctant about sharing any information of its nuclear weapons to its allies, which I know well from my own experience. So the pledge…is a major step forward in extended deterrence," said the former ambassador, adding that South Korea will now be able to have a voice in nuclear planning.

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South Korea's deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo said on Wednesday that the planned measures in the Washington Declaration would "feel like the South Korean people are actually sharing nuclear weapons with the U.S."

U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania Edgard Kagan and Cynthia L. Gire arrive for the state dinner with President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, Wednesday (local time). AP-Yonhap

However, just one day later, Edgard Kagan, senior director for East Asia and Oceania of the National Security Council (NSC), stated that the declaration "is not an agreement designed to enable sharing of nuclear weapons."

Regarding the different rhetoric between the officials, Ahn commented, "I think Kagan was speaking rather bluntly, referring to the fact that there are no U.S. nuclear weapons deployed on the Korean Peninsula. Technically speaking, nuclear weapons sharing is not possible in the current situation."

Hong Hyun-ik, former chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, positively assessed the summit in terms of broadened cooperation on critical and emerging technologies such as semiconductors, batteries and artificial intelligence (AI).

But Hong was quite critical of the Washington Declaration. He saw the Yoon administration as giving up the idea of Korea building its own nuclear arsenal too easily in return for the pledge on stronger extended deterrence, thereby making the nation more reliant on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

"We should see how things develop depending on the working-level talks, but at this point, it is ambiguous how the U.S. government will enable South Korea's participation in operating its nuclear assets," he said, pointing out that the agreement is a declaration ― not a treaty ― with no legally binding force.

He also expressed concerns that the state visit has made it clear to the international community that South Korea has chosen alignment with the U.S., ruffling the feathers of both China and Russia

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, arrives to welcome President Yoon Suk Yeol to the Pentagon in Washington, Thursday (local time). AFP-Yonhap

Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans' University, believes that the two leaders developed the best outcomes they could in the current state of affairs.

"Realistically speaking, Washington would never agree on Seoul's call to acquire its own nuclear weapon or redeploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula. It was a good idea for our government to reaffirm its commitment to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)," he said.

But Park expressed disappointment that the summit did not bring fruitful results regarding the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the CHIPS and Science Act.

"I would say the timing wasn't so good for our officials to bring up the topics with their U.S. counterparts," he said, mentioning Biden's announcement on his 2024 re-election bid which came just one day ahead of the summit with Yoon. "From Biden's perspective, now that he is officially seeking a second term, it's certainly not a good idea to show concessions on the policies which his administration touts as one of its major achievements."