-As President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden are expected to make the first summit call this week, attention is drawn to the first message from the ROK and US leaders to North Korea.
According to the Blue House on the 31st, the Blue House is coordinating the normal call schedule between the US side and President Moon and President Biden.
A senior Cheong Wa Dae official said, “The talks between the ROK and US leaders will be made soon,” but did not mention the specific timing of the call.
In particular, when President Moon spoke with the Chinese President on the 26th, attention is being focused on the timing of the call with President Biden. The Blue House explained that the calls between President Moon and President Xi were for the New Year’s greetings, but interpretations were suggested that President Xi reached out to South Korea, which traditionally values alliances with the United States. The Biden administration is breaking up from the Trump administration’s “US-first” line, while maintaining the public hardline. Representatively,’Quad’, a council of four countries in the United States, Japan, Australia and India, is the legacy of the Trump administration, but the Biden administration has announced that it will succeed and develop it. Moreover, President Biden spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the 28th, two days after President Moon and President Xi made the call.
According to the White House, the US and Japan leaders shared opinions on the necessity of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and discussed strengthening the US-Japan alliance and security issues in the region, including China and North Korea.
It is not unusual for the President of the United States to speak with the Japanese leader before the Korean leader after taking office. After taking office in January 2009, US President Barack Obama also made a phone call with President Lee Myung-bak on February 3, following Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso (29th) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (30th).
After taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump also spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (25th) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (28th), followed by President Hwang Gyoan’s acting agency on the 30th.
However, as President Biden talks with Prime Minister Suga and the delay in the call with President Moon is delayed, observations can be made that there is a disagreement between the ROK and US leaders on the issue of North Korea.
As the US has already promoted the Iranian nuclear issue and the conflict with China as a priority diplomatic task, there are concerns that the North Korean nuclear issue could be pushed back.
With President Moon remaining in office for more than one year, the progress of the’peace process on the Korean peninsula’ is bound to be influenced by how active the Biden administration is in solving the North Korean nuclear issue.
It is noteworthy whether President Moon will be able to deliver concrete results on peace on the Korean peninsula within his term of office through cooperation with the ROK and the United States, including summit meetings after talking with President Biden.
(Seoul = News 1)
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