Biden returns to US alliances in Japan, South Korea

But on Wednesday, as the two officials arrived in Seoul, the actions disappeared, a recognition that the issue has a smaller share in a South Korea that prioritizes commitment to the Kim Jong Un regime.

After four years of relative inattention to US allies, President Biden has pledged to rebuild ties with foreign friends, choosing two key partners for Washington’s challenges with a growing China and an increasingly nuclear North Korea.

“I did not choose an accident [South Korea] for the Biden-Harris administration’s first cabinet trip abroad, with Japan, “Mr Blinken said in Seoul on Wednesday.

Japan and South Korea, both heavily dependent on the US military for their defense, place an unusually high emphasis on receiving the US diplomatic affection – and note whether either side ever receives more from it. For decades, Tokyo and Seoul have been fishing to become Washington’s favorite ally in the region.

This has raised concerns about every word spoken by US officials, on which the Asian ally first receives a presidential telephone chat and on which side it gains US support in disputes ranging from history to national security.

When the United States last week invited Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House, becoming the first world leader to be called to Washington, South Korean media was outraged and urged President Moon Jae-in to do so. pressures for his journey.

“And President Moon must visit the United States soon,” reads an editorial in Seoul Shinmun, a century-old partly government daily.

Getting two very different, albeit interconnected, countries to understand each other is an important task for the United States. Both Japan and South Korea host tens of thousands of American soldiers. The two US allies play central roles, yet they must coexist with some of the troubling challenges of Washington’s foreign policy, which include China, North Korea and Russia.

“We are working to strengthen America’s relations with our allies, as well as their relations,” Sung Kim, acting secretary of state for East Asia, said last week. “And none is more important than Japan and the Republic of Korea.”

Mr Biden, while running for president last year, wrote an editorial for South Korea’s semi-official news agency, praising the two countries’ alliance. Following his tenure in January, Mr Biden’s administration held a three-way meeting with Seoul and Tokyo to discuss North Korea. In recent weeks, the United States has agreed to military cost-sharing agreements with both South Korea and Japan – moves that had been difficult during former President Donald Trump, who often attacked the two allies for not paying. sufficient.

This week, both Tokyo and Seoul avoided publicly broadcasting their disputes. A Seoul government adviser said South Korea was not offended by the US choice to make Japan the first stop on the trip.

“We accept that Japan is a stronger country than we are,” he said. “This is the international order and this is just the truth.”

But ties between Tokyo and Seoul remain strained. The two are battling a trade dispute that is being examined by the World Trade Organization. Tensions erupted after a series of court rulings in South Korea raised the issue of World War II and forced labor.

The Japanese even refused to talk to South Korea, say officials and advisers in both countries. Mr Suga refused to meet with the South Korean ambassador in Tokyo earlier this year and has not yet met with the new ambassador.

On March 1, Mr. Moon repeated a proposal to Japan, offering to revive talks to resolve their disagreements. The gesture has so far gone unanswered in Japan.

The acrimony of the two countries has created security problems. In 2019, Japan’s unexpected trade sanctions prompted South Korea to threaten to withdraw from an information exchange pact that had been backed by the Obama administration and could help coordinate a response during a military crisis.

Over the decades, the United States has often found itself in the middle or cause of disputes between Japan and South Korea.

When then-President Barack Obama met with the South Korean leader during his first term, the two leaders described their alliance as the “backbone” of Northeast Asia. The United States has described its alliance with Japan as the “cornerstone” of the region.

Subsequently, a former US official began receiving several phone calls from Japanese officials, wondering if the “backbone” is more important than the “cornerstone,” said Brad Glosserman, senior adviser to the Pacific think tank. Forum in Hawaii, who spoke with the former official.

“This is proof of how stupid this rivalry can be,” Mr Glosserman said. The United States has not changed its approach to each ally since.

Last year, when Mr. Trump made a guest invitation to South Korea to meet with the group of seven nations, Japanese officials withdrew. Mr Suga, then a spokesman for the Tokyo government, stressed the importance of maintaining the current G7 framework. A South Korean presidential bureau official has accused Japan of shamelessness.

The single answer even included the sequencing of Mr Biden’s phone calls to world leaders after his inauguration in January. Following the tradition of US leaders, Mr. Suga logged in first, while Mr. Moon received a phone call a week later.

But South Korean officials gave a positive result: they privately noted that Mr. Moon’s exchange lasted two minutes longer than Mr. Suga’s.

– Alastair Gale contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Jeong at [email protected]