President Yoon Suk-Yeol will take on his first major diplomatic test abroad later this month, as he has decided to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit slated for June 29 to 30 in Spain.
While in Spain, Yoon is anticipated to promote Korea’s enhanced role and commitment to the common values and rules-based international order upheld by NATO, but his participation is feared to weigh on Seoul’s ties with China and Russia, as NATO’s allies are expected raise voices regarding containing both Moscow and Beijing.
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According to the presidential office, Yoon will attend a dialogue session among the leaders of the 30 NATO allies and eight partner countries, including, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and others. He will be the first Korean president to attend such a summit.
On the sidelines of the summit, Yoon will have bilateral meetings with leaders of “multiple European nations” for which the presidential office is now coordinating schedules and agendas, an official at the office said.
“Yoon’s attendance at the NATO summit will be his first overseas trip after the inauguration,” the official said. “And we expect that his attendance will be an opportunity to enhance Korea’s ties with NATO allies and partner countries regarding common values and the rules-based international order, as well as expanding the country’s role as a global pivotal state in the international community.”
The official declined to give further details on Yoon’s trip, saying that the full itinerary is still in the making.
Yoon will be attending the summit at the invitation of NATO, along with other Asian leaders. NATO’s invitation to key partners of the alliance is seen as an effort to strengthen relations with Asian countries so as to contain China, which is expanding its military influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
According to a U.S. defense news outlet, Defense One, Julianne Smith, the United States’ permanent representative to NATO, said that a new strategic concept will be adopted in the upcoming summit, and it will include threats from China, while leaders are “expected to address cooperation between Russia and China and how it affects the alliance.”
Korea’s participation, however, is anticipated to add to the pressure on Korea’s ties with China and Russia, given the case of Japan, which has been more aggressive in strengthening its ties with NATO.
China’s Global Times reported on Friday that Tokyo was “using the Russia-Ukraine crisis to strengthen its military cooperation with NATO,” and “trying to channel NATO’s influence into the Asia-Pacific region.”
The paper blamed the move, saying it had “hijacked regional peace and stability.”
Russia has already bristled in response to Japan. On June 7, Russia’s foreign ministry said it is suspending an agreement with Japan that allowed Japanese fishermen to fish near the disputed Southern Kuril Islands, on the same day that Tokyo and NATO officials agreed to step up military cooperation and conduct joint exercises.
“Though there could be pressures on Seoul’s relations with Beijing and Moscow, it is the right path for Korea to enhance ties with NATO,” said Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “Plus, Korea is already a partner country of NATO, while warplanes of China and Russia have already been entering Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) without notice. Against this backdrop, there would be no tangible advantages in keeping ambiguity.”
Overdue Seoul-Tokyo bilateral meeting
Another diplomatic test that awaits Yoon in Spain is a potential bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida alongside the summit.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Friday that Kishida has decided to attend the summit, despite earlier anticipation that he may skip it due to the upcoming upper house elections next month.
If the two leaders sit down for talks in Spain, they will be the first of their kind since December 2019, when then-Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in China.
Both the Korean and Japanese governments are cautious about the potential bilateral meeting.
The official at the presidential office said “there is nothing we can confirm about the bilateral meeting due to the delicacy of the matter.”
Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also said in a press conference that “nothing has been confirmed,” adding that the Japanese government will “closely communicate with Korea to restore healthy Tokyo-Seoul ties based on its consistent stance.”
Seoul-Tokyo relations have been at their lowest level after Japan restricted exports of key industrial materials to Korea in apparent retaliation to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling here against Japanese companies, ordering them to compensate surviving Korean victims of wartime forced labor.
If the two leaders meet, it will likely be an opportunity to improve the neighboring countries’ relations.
“I think chances are high for Yoon and Kishida to meet in Spain, whether it is an official bilateral meeting or a casual pull-aside one,” said Jin Chang-soo, the director of Sejong Institute’s Center for Japanese Studies.
“A meeting between the Korean and Japanese leaders has always been difficult to take place because any meeting is bound to entail talks on the two countries’ histories,” Jin said. “However, there are things to be done this time, such as talks about North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the changing circumstances in the Indo-Pacific region. … Though it may not be a deep conversation, I view that the chances of them meeting are high.”
