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Quotes of the Day:
“You didn't wait six months for a feasibility study to prove that an idea could work. You gambled that it might work. You didn't tie up the organization with red tape designed mostly to cover somebody's rear end…You took the initiative and the responsibility. You went around end, you went over somebody's head if you had to. But you acted. That's what drove the regular military and the State Department chair-warmers crazy about the OSS.”
- William Casey, former DCI
"Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges."
- Charles Wentworth Higginson
"All cruelty springs from weakness."
- Seneca
1. Yoon says he feels responsibility to improve S. Korea-Japan ties
2. Experts: China Finds Threat in Latest Move By US-South Korea Alliance
3. Japanese PM set to arrive in S. Korea for summit with Yoon
4. China’s economic coercion hits a chip wall in S Korea
5. US could become S. Korea’s top trading partner, replacing China
6. S Korea, Japan leaders to drink ‘bomb shot’ at talks
7. Rare Japan-South Korea Summit Could Help US’s Push on China
8. North Korea Calls South Korean President a ‘Puppet Traitor’
9. Resumed S. Korea-Japan 'shuttle diplomacy' likely to boost cooperation against N.K. threats, other challenges
10. Explainer | ‘A turning point’: what’s in store for South Korea-Japan ties as Yoon, Kishida meet in Seoul?
11. S.Korea, US to hold working-level cybersecurity talks
1. Yoon says he feels responsibility to improve S. Korea-Japan ties
Because it is in the interests of Korea' national security and national prosperity to do so.
(4th LD) Yoon says he feels responsibility to improve S. Korea-Japan ties | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 7, 2023
(ATTN: UPDATES with opening remarks by Yoon, Kishida; CHANGES headline; ADDS photo)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday he feels a responsibility to make South Korea-Japan relations even better than they were during their good times, as he held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The two leaders met in Seoul for their second summit in less than two months, a highly symbolic meeting demonstrating the neighboring nations are firmly on course to the full restoration of long-frayed relations.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pose for a photo at their summit at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
"The current of a good change is difficult to make at first, but once it is made, it often becomes the trend. I believe that the current of South Korea-Japan relations today is such," Yoon said.
"In less than two months since I had a summit with you in Tokyo, South Korea-Japan relations are clearly showing improvements in earnest. I feel a responsibility to create a good period in our bilateral relations that is even better than the good times of the past," he added.
Yoon also said history issues should not keep relations between the two countries from moving forward.
"I think we should get out of the perception that South Korea and Japan cannot take even a single step forward unless issues of the past are not completely settled," Yoon said.
Kishida thanked Yoon for his warm welcome, saying he is pleased to be fully restoring "shuttle diplomacy" between them and hopes to exchange opinions on ways to move the bilateral relationship forward.
Yoon also extended his condolences over Friday's earthquake in Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, and Kishida expressed his thanks.
Kishida arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for a two-day working visit and stopped at Seoul National Cemetery to pay his respects to Korea's fallen independence activists and war veterans before heading to the presidential office.
Upon arrival, he was greeted by Yoon in an official arrival ceremony that included the playing of the two countries' national anthems and a joint honor guard review.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (R) inspect an honor guard during an official arrival ceremony for the Japanese leader at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kishida's visit comes as bilateral relations have warmed significantly following Seoul's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.
Yoon traveled to Tokyo 10 days after the decision was announced and held a summit with Kishida as the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years.
Kishida's visit is also the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader in 12 years, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy," or regular mutual visits, as agreed between Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March.
Later in the day, Yoon and Kishida will hold a joint news conference, and then have dinner at the official presidential residence, where they will be joined by first lady Kim Keon Hee and Kishida's wife, Yuko, according to diplomatic sources.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives at Seoul Air Base, south of Seoul, on May 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
The summit was first held in a small group and then in an expanded format, covering issues such as security, high-tech industries, science and technology, and cooperation on youth and cultural affairs, according to the presidential office.
North Korea was expected to feature high on the agenda as South Korea pushes to strengthen cooperation with Japan and trilaterally with the United States to counter the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Yoon recently returned from a state visit to Washington, where he and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on a set of measures to support the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.
A joint summit statement noted the two presidents also "emphasized the importance of U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation, guided by shared values, driven by innovation, and committed to shared prosperity and security."
ROK is the acronym of South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea.
In this file photo, President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the end of their joint news conference after their summit in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
Trade and economic issues were likely to be high on the agenda as well, given calls for South Korea and Japan to work more closely together to defend their interests in high-tech industries, such as semiconductors and batteries, as the U.S. and the European Union move to protect their own industries.
South Koreans will be watching closely for any discussion of Japan's plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by an earthquake and a tsunami in 2011.
South Korea hopes Japan will agree to a joint investigation of the contaminated water in addition to the monitoring currently under way by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The two countries are also in the process of restoring each other as trusted trading partners after having removed each other from their respective "white lists" of nations eligible for preferential export treatment amid the forced labor row in 2019.
The presidential office said the summit is unlikely to produce a joint statement, though the final decision will be made during the talks and the leaders will announce the outcome of the summit at a joint press conference.
In this file photo, President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from L), his wife, Kim Keon Hee (L), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (2nd from R) and his wife, Yuko Kishida, have dinner together at a restaurant in Tokyo after the two leaders' summit on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
South Koreans will be paying keen attention to whether Kishida goes beyond reaffirming the positions of past Japanese governments to issue an apology or express remorse for Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
During the March summit, Kishida reaffirmed the Japanese government inherits on the whole the historical perceptions of past governments, including the 1998 joint declaration adopted by former President Kim Dae-jung and former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
The 1998 declaration called for overcoming the past and building new relations, with Obuchi expressing remorse for the "horrendous damage and pain" Japan's colonial rule inflicted on the Korean people.
On Monday, Kishida is scheduled to hold meetings with members of a South Korea-Japan parliamentarians' association and chiefs of South Korea's six business lobbies, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is now heading the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to industry sources.
He will then depart to return to Tokyo.
In this file photo, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold talks in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 7, 2023
2. Experts: China Finds Threat in Latest Move By US-South Korea Alliance
If China is this upset the summit must have been very successful
Experts: China Finds Threat in Latest Move By US-South Korea Alliance
May 04, 2023 8:20 PM
voanews.com
washington —
A declaration of intent by Washington and Seoul, South Korea, to boost nuclear deterrence against North Korea has prompted Beijing to lodge criticism that shows China views a stronger alliance as a threat to its sphere of influence, experts say.
“We noted the relevant content of the Washington Declaration,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA’s Korean Service on Tuesday.
“The U.S. behavior is a result of its Cold War mentality. What the U.S. has done stokes bloc confrontation, undermines the nuclear nonproliferation system and hurts the strategic interest of other countries,” he said.
In the Washington Declaration that U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued April 26, the allies agreed to widen Seoul’s say in U.S. nuclear planning through a newly created body called the Nuclear Consultative Group and to deploy a U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarine regularly to South Korea.
The measures were issued in response to “unprecedented and growing” threats from North Korea,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has repeatedly threatened to attack South Korea and the U.S., which Pyongyang considers its enemies. His words were emphasized by a record number of missile launches last year, at a pace that continues. Since last year, activities at North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site show it is ready to conduct a nuclear test at any time.
“Beijing is predisposed to see any steps to strengthen U.S. and allied defense posture as secretly aimed against China,” said Daniel Russel, who was the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration.
“Beijing chooses to ignore the massive expansion of North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal or its increasingly threatening language and instead interpreted the strengthening of extended deterrence as an anti-China move,” said Russel, now vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
In an article citing Chinese experts published on April 29, China’s state-run Global Times said the joint declaration reflected Yoon’s “overwhelming pro-U.S. policy” that has “lost balance” and “appear[s] more hostile to its three important neighbors,” including North Korea and Russia.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing on Monday that China should not “overreact” to the joint agreement.
Opposition to alliance
Patricia Kim, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, said, “Beijing’s critical response to the measures announced during President Yoon’s visit to the United States is rooted in China’s tendency to see any strengthening of the U.S.-ROK alliance as directed toward itself, when in reality, they are intended to address South Korea’s fundamental growing threat posed by North Korea.”
After his state visit to Washington, Yoon rejected Chinese criticisms. He told a group of more than 150 reporters at a press luncheon in the Yongsan presidential compound in Seoul that the Chinese should help reduce threats from North Korea by enforcing sanctions.
“If they want to take issue with us and criticize us for adopting the Washington Declaration and upgrading our security cooperation to one that is nuclear based, they should reduce the nuclear threat” of North Korea, “or at least abide by international law and stick to U.N. Security Council sanctions,” Yoon said on Tuesday.
Although China helped to pass sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests in 2016 and 2017 as a permanent member of the Security Council, it has blocked the international body from passing new resolutions condemning recent launches.
Dennis Wilder, senior director for East Asia affairs at the White House’s National Security Council during the administration of George W. Bush, said “the Washington Declaration merely confirmed for Beijing that President Yoon is going to take a tough stance toward North Korea and a tough stance toward China.”
Taiwan
Wilder said South Korean leaders "have always been careful to avoid entanglement in U.S. policy on Taiwan,” but “President Yoon is the first South Korean president to have involved himself directly on the Taiwan issue, and from the Chinese point of view, that is totally unacceptable.”
Before Yoon’s trip to Washington, he said in an interview with Reuters released on April 19 that tensions surrounding Taiwan resulted from “attempts to change the status quo by force,” and the matter is “not simply an issue between China and Taiwan” but “a global” one.
In the joint statement that Biden and Yoon issued following their summit, they stressed “the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and “strongly opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific.”
Beijing views the self-governing island of Taiwan as its own territory that must be reunited with mainland China.
"This is a broader geopolitical issue for Beijing that [it’s] watching as a bunch of countries on China’s periphery align more closely with the United States,” said Zack Cooper, former special assistant to the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy at the U.S. Defense Department.
“It’s South Korea [and] Japan. It’s India, Taiwan and the Philippines. As these Chinese neighbors are pushing back against Beijing, the Chinese leadership is feeling more isolated. That’s creating this frustration in China” and causing it to “lash out in very critical ways,” said Cooper, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
China’s increasing military aggression in the Indo-Pacific has led the U.S. and its allies and partners to strengthen their ways to defend Taiwan and to maintain freedom of navigation in the region.
“From China’s point of view, President Yoon is expanding South Korea’s military reach — or seems to be — into the Taiwan Strait situation,” Wilder said.
Jiha Ham contributed to this report.
voanews.com
3. Japanese PM set to arrive in S. Korea for summit with Yoon
We have high hopes.
Japanese PM set to arrive in S. Korea for summit with Yoon | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 7, 2023
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to arrive in South Korea on Sunday for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy" between the two countries' leaders after 12 years.
Kishida's visit comes as bilateral relations have warmed significantly following Seoul's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor without contributions from Japanese firms.
Yoon traveled to Tokyo 10 days after the decision was announced and held a summit with Kishida as the first South Korean president to pay a bilateral visit to Japan in 12 years.
In this file photo, President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the end of their joint news conference after their summit in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kishida's two-day visit will also be the first bilateral visit by a Japanese leader in 12 years, marking the full-scale resumption of "shuttle diplomacy," or regular mutual visits, as agreed between Yoon and Kishida during their summit in Tokyo in March.
On Sunday, the Japanese prime minister is scheduled to visit Seoul National Cemetery, hold a summit with Yoon at the presidential office, hold a joint news conference, and then have dinner with Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee at the official presidential residence, according to diplomatic sources.
Kishida will be accompanied by his wife, Yuko.
The summit will first be held in a small group and then in an expanded format, covering issues such as security, high-tech industries, science and technology, and cooperation on youth and cultural affairs, according to the presidential office.
North Korea will feature high on the agenda as South Korea pushes to strengthen cooperation with Japan and trilaterally with the United States to counter the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Yoon recently returned from a state visit to Washington, where he and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on a set of measures to support the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to defending South Korea with all of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons.
A joint summit statement noted the two presidents also "emphasized the importance of U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation, guided by shared values, driven by innovation, and committed to shared prosperity and security."
ROK is the acronym of South Korea's formal name, the Republic of Korea.
In this file photo, President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from L), his wife, Kim Keon Hee (L), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (2nd from R) and his wife, Yuko Kishida, have dinner together at a restaurant in Tokyo after the two leaders' summit on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
Trade and economic issues will likely be high on the agenda as well, given calls for South Korea and Japan to work more closely together to defend their interests in high-tech industries, such as semiconductors and batteries, as the U.S. and the European Union move to protect their own industries.
South Koreans will be watching closely for any discussion of Japan's plan to release contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant crippled by an earthquake and a tsunami in 2011.
South Korea hopes Japan will agree to a joint investigation of the contaminated water in addition to the monitoring currently under way by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The two countries are also in the process of restoring each other as trusted trading partners after having removed each other from their respective "white lists" of nations eligible for preferential export treatment amid the forced labor row in 2019.
The presidential office said the summit is unlikely to produce a joint statement, though the final decision will be made during the talks and the leaders will announce the outcome of the summit at a joint press conference.
South Koreans will be paying keen attention to whether Kishida goes beyond reaffirming the positions of past Japanese governments to issue an apology or express remorse for Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
During the March summit, Kishida reaffirmed the Japanese government inherits on the whole the historical perceptions of past governments, including the 1998 joint declaration adopted by former President Kim Dae-jung and former Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
The 1998 declaration called for overcoming the past and building new relations, with Obuchi expressing remorse for the "horrendous damage and pain" Japan's colonial rule inflicted on the Korean people.
On Monday, Kishida is scheduled to hold meetings with members of a South Korea-Japan parliamentarians' association and chiefs of South Korea's six business lobbies, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who is now heading the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, according to industry sources.
He will then depart to return to Tokyo.
In this file photo, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold talks in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · May 7, 2023
4. China’s economic coercion hits a chip wall in S Korea
Excerpts:
While China has resorted to asymmetric interdependence as a method of statecraft, this tactic has achieved only limited success. China’s attempt to become a global financier and wield greater power through the Belt and Road Initiative has likewise hit snags. The speed with which targeted states such as South Korea have moved to reduce their exposure to Chinese coercion supports Hirschman’s diagnosis of the politics of international trade.
Although the limits to economic coercion have been exposed in South Korea, this form of statecraft will not necessarily be set aside. While some, following Hirschman’s logic, think Chinese power can be “tamed” through interactions with other powers, meaning coercion might cease or become less common, others think that China is failing to read the signals sent by other states.
This suggests that coercion may remain a temptation for future Chinese leaders. States such as Australia and South Korea would be wise to prepare for both scenarios as they look to the decades ahead.
China’s economic coercion hits a chip wall in S Korea
While China’s punitive measures have hurt Korean retail interests, any threat to its chip makers would cause severe self-harm
By DOMINIC SIMONELLI, DAVID HUNDT And BAOGANG HE
MAY 5, 2023
asiatimes.com · by Dominic Simonelli · May 5, 2023
South Korea has been in the firing line of Chinese economic coercion. Like Australia, the East Asian nation is a key member of the US alliance in the Pacific, whose role as a like-minded member of the rules-based order was emphasized during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s recent trip to the United States.
As a neighbor of China and with an economy complementary to some of China’s core industrial sectors, South Korea has been one of the most prominent targets of Beijing’s economic coercion tactics. But this is not without precedent.
In the aftermath of WWII, economist Albert Hirschman contended that “seemingly harmless” bilateral trade relations can create asymmetric interdependence. Asymmetry leads to reliance which can result in political domination, particularly by great powers.
A modern-day version of this is China’s attempts to extract political and strategic advantage from its trade relations. But while Hirschman believed that the international system may “contain the seeds of its own destruction”, contemporary facts suggest otherwise.
Between February 2010 and March 2022, one group of analysts identified 123 cases of China imposing — or threatening to impose — unilateral sanctions such as boycotts, administrative discrimination, defensive trade measures, trade limitations and travel restrictions on foreign entities.
While Chinese coercion has taken its toll on the South Korean economy, its unintended consequences have prompted South Korea to reduce its exposure to China, even if this entails some real costs.
South Korean firms and policymakers have sought to strengthen economic independence, sovereignty and domestic resilience through reshoring and onshoring. This is evident from the experience of two sectors that had been hitherto highly exposed to China — retail and semiconductors.
The Lotte group and its chain of department stores it once operated in mainland China are the most direct example of a South Korean firm being subjected to Chinese coercion for non-economic reasons.
A closed Lotte Mart in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, March 5, 2017. Photo: Agencies
Lotte is often referred to as “the biggest loser” of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) affair, in which Beijing expressed outrage at Seoul’s decision to deploy a US-made anti-ballistic missile system in 2016. Lotte also sold the land needed for THAAD.
As retribution, most of its stores in China were subjected to regulatory suspensions, resulting in plummeting sales and losses of up to AU$1.3 billion (US$875.7 million). By 2018, the Lotte chain had exited China.
The Lotte case was an exercise of raw power by the Chinese government, but it also demonstrates the limits of coercion as a foreign policy tool. In punishing Lotte and causing its closure of stores, China’s measures eliminated a key source of leverage over South Korea.
While there were real losses for the company, a South Korean academic and presidential advisor noted that “very few foreign retailers” have ever “run profitable operations” in China.
Tellingly, the South Korean government did not dissuade Lotte from leaving China, but instead supported its relocation to Southeast Asia. The incident also tarnished South Korean public sentiment towards China.
If China’s coercion achieved its goal of inflicting economic harm on South Korea in the retail sector, the tactic has been less successful in semiconductors. East Asia is the hub for the multiphase creation of semiconductors and South Korean chipmakers account for about 20% of global production, including some of the industry’s most cutting-edge, upstream segments.
Chinese firms, by contrast, are involved in downstream segments and rely heavily on imported components from South Korea. Beijing is aware that semiconductors are a “chokepoint technology”, which can reduce the capacity of the Chinese government to target foreign firms, including South Korean ones.
South Korean chipmakers have made substantial investments in China and are the single biggest employers in some provinces. Any threat of retaliation against South Korean chipmakers would rebound in the form of job losses and reduced production of Chinese semiconductors.
Important players like the SK Group are set to join the so-called “chip alliance” through increased investment in the United States and cooperating on supply chain restructuring, intended to further impede Chinese retaliation against the United States and its allies.
Chinese coercion has undoubtedly caused economic disruption to South Korean firms, and South Korea and US-aligned economies will pay the costs of restructuring supply chains. Yet the fact that South Korea and Australia chose to accept these costs rather than acquiesce to China’s coercion speaks volumes.
An employee of Samsung Electronics shows the world’s then-first 30-nanometer 64-gigabit NAND flash memory device. Photo: AFP / Kim Jae-hwan
While China has resorted to asymmetric interdependence as a method of statecraft, this tactic has achieved only limited success. China’s attempt to become a global financier and wield greater power through the Belt and Road Initiative has likewise hit snags. The speed with which targeted states such as South Korea have moved to reduce their exposure to Chinese coercion supports Hirschman’s diagnosis of the politics of international trade.
Although the limits to economic coercion have been exposed in South Korea, this form of statecraft will not necessarily be set aside. While some, following Hirschman’s logic, think Chinese power can be “tamed” through interactions with other powers, meaning coercion might cease or become less common, others think that China is failing to read the signals sent by other states.
This suggests that coercion may remain a temptation for future Chinese leaders. States such as Australia and South Korea would be wise to prepare for both scenarios as they look to the decades ahead.
Dominic Simonelli is a Research Assistant in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University. David Hundt is Associate Professor of International Relations in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University. Baogang He is Alfred Deakin Professor and Personal Chair in International Relations in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University.
This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
asiatimes.com · by Dominic Simonelli · May 5, 2023
5. US could become S. Korea’s top trading partner, replacing China
US could become S. Korea’s top trading partner, replacing China
koreaherald.com · by Shim Woo-hyun · May 5, 2023
The United States is expected to become South Korea’s top trading partner for the first time in 20 years, replacing China, Korea’s current top export destination, government data showed Friday.
According to the Trade Ministry's latest data, South Korea’s exports to China in April decreased by 26.5 percent on-year to $9.52 billion. The country's exports to the US, on the other hand, reached $9.18 billion.
The gap between South Korea’s exports to China and the US narrowed to just $340 million in April from $1.15 billion in January.
In 2021, South Korea’s exports to the US accounted for only 58 percent of the exports to China. But, Korea’s exports to the US in April 2023 accounted for 96 percent of those to China.
South Korea’s exports to China have been seeing a downward trend since April last year, posting single-digit decreases in the first few months.
Since the country's exports to China decreased by 15.7 percent on-year in October, the figures continued to record double-digit on-year decreases.
On the other hand, South Korea’s exports to the US have been increasing since April last year. Exports of electric vehicles to the US in particular, have jumped, backed by a strong dollar, local researchers said.
“South Korea’s exports value to China have been decreasing mainly due to lower chip prices, while the exports value to the US has been on the rise due to the increased shipment of electric vehicles,” said an official from Korea International Trade Association’s research unit.
In April, South Korea’s exports value of semiconductor products came to $6.3 billion, down 41 percent on-year, whereas the country’s exports value of vehicles came to $6.1 billion, up 40.3 percent on-year.
An official from the Trade Ministry noted that South Korea’s exports to China will likely rebound as China’s economy and memory chip prices recover in the second half the year.
By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Shim Woo-hyun · May 5, 2023
6. S Korea, Japan leaders to drink ‘bomb shot’ at talks
Sigh....
Sun, May 07, 2023 page5
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2023/05/07/2003799331
S Korea, Japan leaders to drink ‘bomb shot’ at talks
BOLSTERING TIES: The two heads of state are to hold the first such security summit in 12 years, as their countries’ ties are warming amid North Korean threats
In between talks on security and technology, the leaders of South Korea and Japan plan to unwind over a drink.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is preparing to share a “bomb shot” with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over a casual dinner on Sunday.
The concoction, a combination of beer with South Korea’s national spirit soju, is a mainstay in South Korean dramas, and is often shared among colleagues and friends in the country to bond.
Protesters hold banners at a demonstration against closer ties between South Korea and Japan in Seoul on Friday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The meal is part of an official two-day summit in Seoul — the first in 12 years — meant to bolster ties between the US allies. Seen as a chance to restore shuttle diplomacy, the visit takes place ahead of a trilateral meeting between the US, South Korea and Japan during a G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, later this month.
The relaxed dinner at Yoon’s presidential residence in Seoul is to showcase Korean cuisine. Yoon intends to serve charcoal-grilled meat, people familiar with the event said.
Korean rice wine would be offered throughout the meal, and high-level officials from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party suggest that bomb shots are “most likely” to follow.
The last such meeting was in October 2011, when then-Japanese prime minister Yoshihiko Noda visited Seoul for a summit with then-South Korean president Lee Myung-bak. Back then, marinated beef short ribs, soju and rice wine were on the menu at a restaurant in the ritzy Gangnam District.
The bilateral summit is part of a broader push to restore ties harmed by disputes in the past few years. The friction caused headaches for the White House, which wants the two countries to form a united front against North Korea.
The political rift is driven by questions of fair compensation after Japan forced Koreans to labor in Japanese mines and factories during the 1910-1945 colonial rule over the peninsula. The relationship worsened in 2019, when Japan removed South Korea from its preferential trading list, leading to reciprocal action.
Last month, South Korea added Japan back to its “white list” of trading partners, and Japan later announced it would do the same.
7. Rare Japan-South Korea Summit Could Help US’s Push on China
Certainly the main news items in the press for the next couple of days will be about Korea-Japan relations and Prime Minister Kishida's visit to Seoul.
Rare Japan-South Korea Summit Could Help US’s Push on China
ByJon Herskovitz and Jeong-Ho Lee
May 6, 2023 at 7:00 PM EDTUpdated onMay 6, 2023 at 11:00 PM EDT
The second meeting in two months between leaders of Japan and South Korea after years without a formal summit marks another win for the Biden administration, which has sought to unite the allies to cooperate against North Korea and undercut China’s growing power.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Seoul on Sunday for talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The two are seeking to bolster business and military cooperation with the US even while remaining mindful of the importance of keeping ties steady with their biggest trading partner, China.
It’s a delicate balance as Washington and Beijing squabble over everything from the supply of chips and cutting-edge technology, to an alleged Chinese spy balloon being shot down over American skies and China’s partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the forefront too is an increasingly belligerent North Korea, which fired an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US just hours before Kishida and Yoon held a summit in Tokyo in March.
“I would like to have a full and frank exchange with President Yoon based on a relationship of trust,” Kishida told reporters in Tokyo before his departure for Seoul.
The Biden administration has been seeking help from partners such as Seoul and Tokyo to impose sweeping curbs on the sale of advanced chips equipment to China in a policy aimed at preventing the country’s progression in a range of cutting-edge technologies.
US efforts may have been a factor in the restoration of Seoul-Tokyo ties, said Kak Soo Shin, a former career diplomat who once served as South Korea’s ambassador to Japan. Drivers could have also included concerns both countries share over the volatile security environment, mainly the challenge of addressing the North Korean nuclear threat and a “coercive China,” he said.
“It has been quite abnormal for Korea and Japan to leave their relationship in such a miserable situation for such a long time,” Shin said. “It was a lose-lose situation that the two countries have been trapped in a vicious cycle of fraying relationship, even though they could be natural strategic partners amid the flux of their strategic settings.”
Kishida and Yoon are likely to discuss issues surrounding security and high-tech industries, as well as restore shuttle diplomacy that was derailed more than a decade ago to political friction, the South Korea president’s office said.
A formal summit between the two leaders was held in March in Tokyo for the first time in 12 years, followed by a security dialog in April and a meeting of their finance ministers last week.
Yoon has been a supporter of Washington’s Asia strategy, including President Joe Biden’s initiative to restructure global supply chains to reduce dependence on China. Japan in March said it will expand restrictions on exports of 23 types of leading-edge chipmaking technology, even as its trade officials repeatedly said it was not targeted at China.
The last visit by a Japanese premier to South Korea came in 2018 when then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and held talks separately with then-President Moon Jae-in. The last formal bilateral summit in Seoul by a Japanese leader was in October 2011.
Troubled History
Yoon proposed a resolution for the long-standing dispute over compensation for Japan’s use of Korean forced labor during its 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula. His proposal, which involves South Korean firms contributing to a compensation fund for conscripted Korean workers, has not been well-received by the majority of the local public.
The payments were meant to avoid forcing Japanese companies to provide compensation, in line with Tokyo’s contention all such claims were settled under a 1965 agreement. Biden’s administration welcomed the move, calling it a “groundbreaking” deal.
In the wake of the move, South Korea reinstated Japan to its list of preferred trading partners in April. Later that month, Japan’s trade ministry started seeking public opinions on restoring South Korea to Tokyo’s list of preferred trading partners, in a procedural step that would eventually streamline the export processes to South Korea.
A key task for Kishida is to understand the domestic criticism Yoon has faced on his proposal to end the dispute over compensation, said Naoko Aoki, an associate political scientist at the Rand Corp. in Washington.
Read: Why South Korea-Japan Ties Are Plagued by History: QuickTake
“I don’t think Prime Minister Kishida can make everyone happy, but whether he can allay some of the concerns being voiced in South Korea would be an important part of the visit,” she said.
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The summit in Seoul could also help in a show of support for Taiwan, which China sees as a part of its territory that must be returned, even if by force. In a visit by Yoon to Washington in April, South Korea made its strongest statement yet on the Taiwan Strait by expressing strong opposition to any unilateral actions in the region — in comments that echoed statements from the Kishida government.
“It’s important to recognize that the primary reason for trilateral cooperation involving the United States is to support Taiwan,” said Cheon Seong-whun, former security strategy secretary in South Korea’s presidential office. “As such, engaging in collective strategic dialogue with China is crucial. The emphasis should be on arms control instead of an arms race,” he said.
Curtailing China’s expanding nuclear arsenal is set to be a subject of discussion later this month with Kishida hosts a Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Hiroshima. Yoon has been invited and expected to join the Japanese premier and Biden for three-way talks on the sidelines.
“I don’t think either of the two countries want to see the region reshaped and dominated by China’s increasing military capability and economic coercion,” Aoki of Rand said.
— With assistance by Takashi Hirokawa and Shinhye Kang
(Updates with Kishida’s arrival.)
8. North Korea Calls South Korean President a ‘Puppet Traitor’
While critics must always have the right to criticize the government, those critics would do well to try to understand how their comments might support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy.
But on one does over the top propaganda better than north Korea.
North Korea Calls South Korean President a ‘Puppet Traitor’
Pyongyang has been publishing belligerent statements slamming the South Korea-U.S. summit – and is eagerly seizing on South Korean criticisms for its own advantage.
thediplomat.com · by Mitch Shin · May 5, 2023
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Korean Central News Agency, one of the North’s main state-controlled media, published another belittling statement targeting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Since Yoon held a summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26, the North’s state media has spared no effort to demonize Yoon as the main actor escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On Friday, it highlighted Yoon’s lack of experience and capacity as the leader of South Korea.
“South Korea is just a tool for the U.S. to maintain and realize its own interests, but Yoon mistakenly sees it as U.S. support and assistance for South Korea,” KCNA said.
Exploiting Yoon’s low approval ratings at home and the criticisms arising toward him after the summit, KCNA claimed that the summit was a victory for the United States, not South Korea.
“Although Yoon Suk Yeol led a high-profile business delegation to the U.S., he did not reach any substantive agreement with the Biden administration on the ‘Inflation Reduction Act,’ the ‘CHIPS and Science Act’ and other core issues such as South Korean business investment, product sales, and technological upgrading,” KCNA said. It added that “the U.S. encouraged Yoon to continue to serve the interests of the U.S.”
KCNA’s criticisms of Yoon’s performance at the South Korea-U.S. summit reflect similar themes already being reported by the South Korean domestic media. The summit did not result in any concrete measures addressing Korean concerns about the IRA, even though this was the main agenda for Yoon to protect the interests of major South Korean conglomerates that made tremendous investments in the United States last year. During the joint press conference following the summit, Biden was asked about the South Korean corporations’ concerns about the IRA but he equivocated, saying (without providing any evidence) that their investment in the U.S. would also create jobs in South Korea.
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By hitting on these same themes, North Korea seems to be trying to exploit the sharp divide between Yoon’s supporters and his critics. “It is unknown whether Yoon, who has been deceived by the U.S., will calm down after returning home, think and distinguish about the so-called promises and support given by the U.S., and deeply reflect on his mistaken perceptions,” KCNA said.
A separate KCNA article drew attention to anti-Yoon protests in South Korea, which it described as a way for South Koreans to “vent their wrath on the disgusting sycophancy to the U.S. shown by traitor Yoon Suk Yeol during his U.S. visit that brought the danger of a nuclear war to the Korean peninsula and left south Korean people’s living to the tender mercies of outsiders.”
Through their summit, Yoon and Biden sought to prove that they are on the same page regarding the North’s nuclear and missile threats. Announcing the “Washington Declaration” and the establishment of the Nuclear Consultative Group, they clearly repeated that the North’s nuclear attacks on the United States and its allies will cause the end of the Kim regime.
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To crack the so-called “ironclad” South Korea-U.S. alliance, Pyongyang published a series of statements highlighting that the summit was for enhancing the interests of the United States, not South Korea.
KCNA argued that the U.S. is controlling Yoon so as to make Seoul work for its interests. To bolster its argument, it cited an article in the Chinese state-owned Global Times that touches on a similar theme.
“Yoon is utterly unaware that the U.S. is using this consultation mechanism to control and influence his ‘administration,’ preventing South Korea from acting recklessly on the nuclear issue and making it strictly obey the U.S. control and instructions,” KCNA said. It also added that Yoon is “blindly following the U.S.” while “the U.S. ignores and despises Yoon inwardly.” Here again, KCNA seems to be couching its criticism in terms similar to those used by some South Korean experts, in a bid to increase its credibility.
Mitch Shin
Mitch Shin is an assistant editor at The Diplomat.
thediplomat.com · by Mitch Shin · May 5, 2023
9. Resumed S. Korea-Japan 'shuttle diplomacy' likely to boost cooperation against N.K. threats, other challenges
National security and national prosperity.
(2nd LD) (News Focus) Resumed S. Korea-Japan 'shuttle diplomacy' likely to boost cooperation against N.K. threats, other challenges | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · May 7, 2023
(ATTN: UPDATES with Yoon's remarks in paras 11-14; CHANGES photo)
By Song Sang-ho
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- This week's resumption of the leader-level "shuttle diplomacy" between South Korea and Japan is expected to add new momentum to their cooperation in navigating nettlesome challenges, from evolving North Korean threats to China's assertiveness, analysts said Sunday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reciprocated the visit to Tokyo in March by President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the full revival of the shuttle diplomacy after a 12-year hiatus caused largely by historical enmity stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The thaw between Seoul and Tokyo is likely to aid the U.S.' drive to promote trilateral cooperation with its Asian allies to confront shared challenges, but the perceived splintering of the world into competing geopolitical blocs could shrink the room for great-power cooperation over North Korean issues, the analysts noted.
"From tensions across the Taiwan Strait to the war in Ukraine and the North Korean conundrum, complex uncertainties could have the potential to develop and descend into a vicious cycle," said Nam Chang-hee, professor of international politics at Inha University. "Under the clouds of the uncertainties, countries may converge on the need to maximize the space for cooperation whenever they can."
Their shared external challenges have apparently served as a wake-up call for the two Asian democracies that have been caught in a raft of spats, including over Japan's colonial-era misdeeds, territorial claim to Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo and plan to discharge radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, to name a few.
Chief among the challenges are growing North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
Pyongyang has been doubling down on its menacing weapons projects, including those to develop tactical nuclear weapons, and an assortment of ballistic missiles that put South Korea, Japan and the U.S. mainland within range.
To curb the threats from the North, Washington has been pushing to cement trilateral cooperation with its two Asian allies, leading Seoul to take a giant step in March to normalize relations with Tokyo: an announcement on a solution to the thorny issue of compensation for Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor.
The solution -- under which a government-affiliated foundation is to offer compensation to victims without contributions from Japanese firms -- was politically risky at home.
But in its wake, the two nations have seen the normalization of their once-underutilized intelligence-sharing pact, their trade relations back on track, and the resumption of their working-level dialogues and summit diplomacy.
At Sunday's summit with Kishida, Yoon stressed cooperation between the two nations is necessary not only for the interests of the two nations, but also for world peace and prosperity, particularly under the "grave" international situation.
"In the situation where liberal democracy, which has served as a foundation for the international community's peace and prosperity, is under threat, South Korea and Japan, which share universal values, will have to cooperate through sturdier solidarity," he said.
Yoon also reiterated the need to "break from the perception that the two neighbors cannot take even a step forward for future cooperation without a complete resolution of their historical issues."
The remarks were in line with his earlier statement that the two countries are not in a "zero-sum" relationship, in which one side's gain means the other side's loss.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prior to their bilateral summit at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kishida, on his part, has displayed his desire to improve relations with South Korea by visiting Seoul earlier than expected. His move came on the back of a rise in his approval ratings and his Liberal Democratic Party's win in last month's local elections.
He is the first Japanese premier to visit Seoul in a shuttle diplomacy format since then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda visited the South Korean capital in October 2011.
The resumption of the shuttle diplomacy came ahead of a trilateral summit among Yoon, U.S. President Joe Biden and Kishida expected to take place on the margins of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, later this month.
The trilateral summit is likely to be a venue where the leaders may further deepen their security cooperation against North Korean threats, as well as joint efforts to promote stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
"The restoration of the shuttle diplomacy could lead to a prominent milestone in the efforts to cement trilateral cooperation," Nam of Inha University said.
Progress in the three-way cooperation is already palpable as the three nations agreed to hold missile defense and anti-submarine exercises regularly to tackle North Korean threats during their senior-level defense talks last month. Their leaders have also agreed to share missile warning data "in real time."
This file photo, released by the South Korean Navy, shows South Korean, U.S. and Japanese warships engaging in a maritime exercise in waters south of the Korean Peninsula on April 4, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Tightening tripartite collaboration among the U.S. and its Asian allies came in the context of an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry and growing tensions between the West and Russia over Moscow's war in Ukraine.
The growing geopolitical realignment could make it more difficult to promote cooperation among great powers in leading the North to give up its nuclear weapons and choose a path of peace on the Korean Peninsula, analysts said.
"Especially in the wake of the war in Ukraine, friction between the U.S. and Russia and between the U.S. and China has dimmed the prospects for their cooperation on the North Korean quandary," said Choo Jae-woo, professor of Chinese Studies at Kyung Hee University.
But hopes emerged that the possible resumption of a trilateral summit among South Korea, China and Japan could help ease geopolitical tensions in Northeast Asia and promote cooperation among them.
The three countries had held eight rounds of three-way summit talks since their first gathering in December 2018. Since their last summit in the Chinese city of Chengdu in December 2019, tripartite gatherings have not been held amid historical feuds between Seoul and Tokyo, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Uncertainties still linger over the future trajectory of relations between Seoul and Tokyo, as Japan continues to lay claim to Dokdo with its right-wing politicians periodically visiting the Yasukuni Shrine seen as a symbol of their country's past militarism.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · May 7, 2023
10. Explainer | ‘A turning point’: what’s in store for South Korea-Japan ties as Yoon, Kishida meet in Seoul?
Explainer | ‘A turning point’: what’s in store for South Korea-Japan ties as Yoon, Kishida meet in Seoul?
- Building closer security ties to counter North Korea, expanding economic cooperation are among the issues likely to be the focus of Kishida’s Seoul trip
- Warmer South Korea-Japan ties may also see the neighbours draw closer to the US, which could incur China’s wrath and escalate tensions, analyst notes
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3219556/turning-point-whats-store-south-korea-japan-ties-yoon-kishida-meet-seoul
Seong Hyeon Choi
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Published: 11:30am, 6 May, 2023
The relationship between South Korea and Japan looks set for a thaw as the leaders of both nations meet on Sunday to discuss a range of shared interests, including security and trade.
South Korean Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho earlier this week described the situation as a “turning point”, following years of acrimony over historical disagreements related to Japan’s treatment of its former colony.
The past was dredged up after a 2018 South Korean court ruling rekindled ill feelings over Koreans used as forced labour during the Japanese occupation in WWII, sparking a diplomatic row over intelligence-sharing and tit-for-tat trade restrictions.
A recent accord struck between Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during the latter’s March visit to Tokyo – the first in 12 years – aimed at putting that issue in the past.
This weekend’s summit in Seoul is the reciprocation of Yoon’s visit, when both sides pledged to restore regular “shuttle diplomacy”.
Here’s what to know about the recent thaw in South Korea-Japan ties and this weekend’s summit.
02:03
North Korea warns enemies of ‘extreme horror’ as it tests new missile
North Korea warns enemies of ‘extreme horror’ as it tests new missile
The Pyongyang threat
The summit comes two weeks after Yoon visited Washington to meet US President Joe Biden, with both leaders emphasising “the importance of US-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation [that is] committed to shared prosperity and security” in a joint statement.
It also comes in the face of North Korea’s frequent missile launches, with 26 in the first quarter of this year. Last month, Pyongyang said it tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile – the first time it has done so – which flew over Japan towards the Pacific Ocean.
Solid-fuel rockets have shorter burn times than liquid propellants, meaning the North can strike the US with far less warning.
In the light of Pyongyang’s provocations, Seoul and Tokyo in March normalised an intelligence-sharing pact, the General Security of Military Information Agreement.
Choi Eun-mi, a research fellow at Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said that while the current state of South Korea-Japan ties might not lead to a military alliance, building closer security ties to deter North Korea’s missile threats was likely to be the focus of Kishida’s visit.
“There will be a discussion on how to respond to North Korean nuclear threats … In terms of information exchange, there can be discussions on increasing the quality of the information they share,” Choi said. “It would be more important to discuss how to cooperate between South Korea, the United States and Japan.”
Defence officials from the three countries last month agreed to step up efforts to realise real-time information-sharing about North Korean missiles to “enhance trilateral security cooperation”. Japan has said it will also invite South Korea to the G7 summit in Hiroshima later this month.
Among the key results of Yoon’s US visit was the “Washington Declaration”, which reaffirmed the “regular visibility” of US strategic assets – including nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines – to the Korean peninsula.
The two countries will also set up a nuclear consultative group (NCG) to “strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the non-proliferation regime posed by [North Korea]”.
South Koreans chant slogans during a candlelight vigil in Seoul against a government plan to resolve a dispute over compensating people forced to work under Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea. Photo: Reuters
A sticking point?
The main point of friction between Seoul and Tokyo, however, is the forced-labour compensation issue.
In 2018, 15 Koreans won lawsuits against two Japanese companies – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and Nippon Steel Corp – accused of forced labour during Japan’s colonial rule. Tokyo insisted the compensation issue had been resolved in a bilateral treaty in 1965 and imposed retaliatory economic sanctions on South Korea in 2019.
Following years of stalemate, South Korea in March revealed a new compensation plan under which victims would receive reparations from a Seoul-backed fund instead of from the Japanese companies linked to forced labour.
South Korea’s opposition condemned the plan as “humiliating” as it lacked an official apology from the Japanese government in Tokyo.
A recent Gallup Korea poll showed Yoon’s public approval rating after his Tokyo visit dropped by 1 percentage point to 33 per cent, with “forced-labour compensation plan” and “diplomacy” among key reasons for the negative appraisal.
South Koreans expecting Kishida to offer a direct apology for Japan’s colonial rule during his trip may also be disappointed. Japanese right-wing nationalists – including the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – have claimed that no further apologies to the Korean victims are needed.
“It’s difficult to anticipate more than what Kishida said at the last summit, but it would be necessary for him to give consolation and sympathy to the victims even if he does not mention any words like ‘apology’ or ‘regret’,” Choi said.
Improved South Korea-Japan ties may also prove crucial amid the United States’ drive to limit China’s role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Photo: Shutterstock
Expanding trade ties
Kishida’s visit could also signal increased bilateral trade ties, which had already received a boost following Yoon’s trip in March.
Japan has taken steps to ease trade restrictions on its neighbour, such as lifting the export ban on key semiconductor materials, and commencing procedures to return Seoul to “white list” trade status after the latter was downgraded in 2019 over the forced-labour compensation dispute.
Improved bilateral ties may also prove crucial amid Washington’s drive to limit China’s role in the global semiconductor supply chain. The US’ “Chip 4” alliance aims to push for closer economic cooperation between South Korea – the largest supplier of memory chips – and Japan, a key exporter of semiconductor materials and equipment, in the global production and trade in semiconductors.
Beijing denounces US and South Korea plans for nuclear submarine
Wary China
Warmer ties between South Korea and Japan could lead to a closer military alliance with the US, which may utilise the NCG and North Korea threat to push for a bigger presence in the region to thwart China’s ambitions in the Taiwan Strait.
Seoul’s recent security and foreign-policy moves have predictably prompted strong reactions from Beijing.
China and South Korea summoned each other’s diplomatic envoys last month following a sharp exchange of words by both sides over comments by Yoon in a Reuters interview where he said “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the Indo-Pacific” was unacceptable.
The joint statement by Biden and Yoon following the latter’s White House visit also reaffirmed “the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and the South China Sea.
The Chinese foreign ministry hit back, saying “the Taiwan question is purely an internal affair at the core of China’s interests”.
Choi said if South Korea’s ties with the US and Japan became more stable, Beijing was likely to express discontent towards Washington and its allies, escalating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
“While China welcomes the improvement in South Korea-Japan relations, it would try to block the creation of a camp or bigger voice resisting against a certain country,” Choi said.
“I think Beijing would urge South Korea not to fall into a partisanship logic from a particular country, in this case the US.”
CONVERSATIONS
Seong Hyeon Choi
+ FOLLOW
Seong Hyeon joined the SCMP in 2022. He is from South Korea and graduated with a bachelor of journalism and master of international and public affairs from the University of Hong Kong. He worked as a research intern for Korea Chair at US foreign policy think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as a news trainee for NK news.
11. S.Korea, US to hold working-level cybersecurity talks
S.Korea, US to hold working-level cybersecurity talks
bhaskarlive.in · by IANS New · May 7, 2023
Seoul, May 7 (IANS) South Korea and the US will hold working-level talks on cybersecurity this week in Seoul, the Defence Ministry here said on Sunday, amid the allies’ efforts to counter evolving North Korean threats from multiple domains.
The eighth session of the director-general-level Cyber Cooperation Working Group (CCWG) is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday. It marks the first in-person session in four years following a hiatus caused largely by the Covid-19 pandemic, Yonhap news agency reported.
The two sides plan to discuss their cybersecurity policies, current trends of cyberthreats and joint efforts to strengthen cybersecurity training, according to the Ministry.
“The two sides expect the two defence authorities can work to further strengthen their cybersecurity cooperation mechanism through the upcoming session,” the Ministry said in a press statement.
The CCWG was launched in 2014 to serve as a venue for the allies’ key discussions on cybersecurity. Its outcomes had been dealt with at the two countries’ annual defence ministerial talks, called the Security Consultative Meeting.
–IANS
int/khz/
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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