S Korea's Moon voices 'great expectations' for ties with US under Biden
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has sent a congratulatory message to USA President-elect Joe Biden, voicing "great expectations" for future years of bilateral ties. "Our alliance is strong and the bond between our two countries is rock-solid," Moon wrote on Twitter."I very much look forward to dealing with you for our shared values. I've great expectations of advancing and checking the near future development of our bilateral relations."
"Katchi Kapshida! (Korean for let's go together)" Moon added, repeating Biden's ending note in his special contribution to Yonhap news agency prior to the Nov 3 elections, reports The Straits Times. Biden had promised that as president, he will "stand with South Korea, strengthening our alliance to safeguard peace in East Asia and beyond", together with "take part in principled diplomacy and keep pressing toward a denuclearized North Korea and a unified Korean Peninsula".
Biden's victory is widely expected to restore balance to the Seoul-Washington alliance, which has been strained in the past few years. Donald Trump's "America First" administration has threatened to withdraw troops from South Korea and has squeezed Seoul to improve its share of defense costs and narrow trade surplus with the US.
Lee Nak-yon, chairman of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party, voiced hopes for a "more solid" alliance with the Biden administration, and that both allies will continue to work closely to achieve peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. In a congratulatory message posted on Facebook, Mr Lee also expressed hope that the peace process on the Korean Peninsula "could be reactivated and the road towards permanent peace can be laid out as soon as possible".
The primary opposition People Power Party (PPP), while congratulating Biden, also urged the brand new US leader to "achieve visible results" in pushing North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons. Experts said Biden will most likely get in touch with Pyongyang through working-level talks, rather than participating in personal diplomacy as Trump has done.Trump has met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un 3 x since mid-2018, with South Korean leader Moon playing the role of a mediator between them.
A Biden-Kim summit, however, is uncertain, according to Dr Lee Seong-hyon of the Sejong Institute think-tank."What is certain is that Biden is a lot more careful in working with Kim," Dr Lee told The Straits Times. "He'll let his working-level officials test the waters first, he'll not maintain a hurry."
Ewha Womans University's international studies expert, Associate Professor Leif-Eric Easley, warned that Pyongyang's next move is to conduct a provocative missile test as a "welcome gift" to Mr Biden when his presidency commences in January, before demanding financial advantages to reduce military tension.To counter that, the united states and its allies will have to coordinate their response to Pyongyang's upgraded long-range and submarine-based missiles, Prof Easley said.
He added that the brand new president will likely demand a "more modest upsurge in military cost sharing from Seoul" and seek to handle trade disputes multilaterally, which "will be good news" for South Korean businesses."But the Biden administration will for quite a while be occupied with overcoming the coronavirus pandemic, so will also be sensitive to international burden sharing," he said."Seoul should thus avoid the impression that its alliance policy is 'Please protect us while we make peace with Pyongyang and make money with Beijing'."
