Seoul: President Yoon Suk Yeol will be on a state visit to the United States from April 24-29 to hold a summit with US President Joe Biden and mark the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance, a presidential official said Thursday, Korean News Agency Yonhap reported. Yoon will be the first South Korean president since Lee Myung-bak visited the US in 2011, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters while announcing the details of his trip.
Yoon and Biden will hold a summit at the White House on April 26 after an official welcoming ceremony and before a state dinner where they will be joined by first ladies Kim Keon Hee and Jill Biden, Yonhap reported. ‘The two leaders will spend a lot of time together over the course of many events … celebrate the achievements of the South Korea-US alliance accumulated over 70 years, and exchange in-depth views on the alliance’s way forward’, Kim Tae-hyo said.
The summit will mark the sixth meeting between Yoon and Biden, following those in Seoul last May and then in Madrid, London, New York and Phnom Penh. ‘We expect the contents and breadth of our global comprehensive strategic alliance to be further expanded at the upcoming talks, based on the trust and friendship the leaders have built until now’, Kim said. The adviser pointed to four key areas where he expects to see results, including strengthening the allies’ combined defence posture and more detailed implementation of the US extended deterrence commitment to South Korea, Yonhap reported.
Extended deterrence refers to the US commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally. The credibility of that commitment has sometimes been called into question in South Korea as North Korea has simulated nuclear missile strikes on the South while advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities. Kim said the summit would also aim to flesh out cooperation on economic security, such as in semiconductors and batteries; promote exchanges between future generations, including by nurturing talents in the advanced technology sector; and strengthen cooperation on international issues, Yonhap reported. On the eve of the summit, Biden and first lady Jill will invite Yoon and first lady Kim to an informal get-together, he said.
Later that day, Yoon will travel to Boston and hold discussions on April 28 with digital and bio scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will also deliver an address at Harvard University on the same day. ‘President Yoon will look back on the US-led expansion of economic and political freedoms over the past 200 years and share his thoughts on the two sides of freedom in our digital era’, Kim said. Yoon will wrap up his trip and depart for Seoul on April 29.
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