According to the Associated Press on August 24, South Korean President Li said on Monday on the "Hong Kong-U.S. Alliance Modernization" that the United States has indeed put forward an opinion on raising the strategic flexibility of the U.S. military in South Korea, and it is difficult for the South Korean side to agree on this, and it is necessary for the United States to discuss the future development strategy of the U.S. military in South Korea.

Lee Jae-myung's statement on "modernization of Korea-US alliance" on the 24th

Lily made the following statement tomorrow after the end of his trip to Japan, taking the presidential flight to the United States and holding a press conference on the plane.On the topic of the upcoming Korean dollar first meeting, Li listed national security, national defense budget, customs consultations and so on.

Looking forward to the prospect of tariff negotiation between South Korea and the United States, Lee Jae-myung said that although the process will be difficult, he believes that a realistic and reasonable conclusion will eventually be drawn. He said that it is an objective fact that South Korea's external environment is more difficult than before, but as president, he should overcome these difficulties to defend national interests, create a better environment, and believe that he can achieve the expected results.

According to reports, regarding the possibility that the United States may ask South Korea to further open up the market for agricultural and livestock products, Li Zaiming said that the United States confirmed that the relevant agreement reached by South Korea and the United States last month was beneficial to South Korea, and the relevant departments of the United States even asked South Korea to modify some of the content of the agreement. However, the South Korean side believes that South Korea and the United States reached an agreement after negotiation, and US President Trump has also announced the relevant content, which should not be easily overturned.

Extended reading

Why does Li Zaiming "want and want" "great power diplomacy" when he simultaneously launches an "offensive" against Japan, the United States, and China?

Li Zaiming and his wife visited

On August 24, a key meeting point for South Korean diplomacy, high-level contacts with Japan, the United States and the three major countries were carried out almost simultaneously.

On the same day, President Li Ming brought the first consensus document of the Korean-Japanese heads of state in 17 years to end his visit to Japan; then he continued to rush to the next stop in the United States; at the same time, the President's special mission opened a visit to China, and the following may be the congressman "take the bar" to China to attend the 93rd parade.

Only more than two months after taking office, Li Ziming's "great power diplomacy" seems to have been laid out. What considerations are hidden behind it?

Facing Japan: Boldness and Practical

On the 24th, Lee Jae-myung's two-day "shuttle diplomacy" with Japan ended.

The day before, Lee Zai-ming and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held a small-scale and expanded meeting, which lasted for about 2 hours. The two sides discussed a wide range of topics such as bilateral relations, cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan, and the North Korean issue.

After the meeting, the two heads of state issued a joint press communique.

According to the Japanese public opinion, this is the first time in 17 years that the leaders of the two countries have issued a summit consensus document comprehensively covering bilateral relations.

According to the communiqué, both sides agreed to steadily advance "future-oriented" bilateral relations.

Specific consensus and measures include: strengthening strategic communication and cooperation in areas such as security; Promote cooperation in hydrogen energy, artificial intelligence and other fields; Establish an intergovernmental consultation mechanism between the two countries on common issues such as local revitalization, declining birthrate and aging; Expand the working holiday visa system for young people, and further promote personnel exchanges between the two sides.

Li's attention to the visit to Japan is very high, not less than his predecessor Yin Ziyu's "Ice Breaking Journey".In the meantime, this visit broke the practice and created several "first times": for the first time in the 60 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the South Korean president "first day after the United States" visited Japan as the first country, and issued a joint press release for the first time since 2008; Secondly, Li's attitude toward Japan and the hard position before taking office formed a marked contrast.

Lee Jae-ming meets with Shigeru Ishiba

¡°From prioritizing Japan as the first visiting country to the United States, to issuing a joint press release, Li highlighted the proactive guidance and atmosphere in Ming, and his policy towards Japan was more bold and practical.¡±Wang Jansen, researcher at the China Academy of Social Sciences, Asia-Pacific and Global Strategic Research InstituteSay to .

Behind it, there are both internal and external reasons.

Internally, it satisfies the demands of conservatives who tend to continue to develop relations with Japan in order to ease political polarization and stabilize the domestic political situation.

Externally, it shows the Japanese side that it attaches importance to Korea-Japan relations as always, appeases the Japanese side's concerns about its previous negative remarks about Japan, and safeguards the broad common interests of both sides in the fields of security, economy and trade.

At the same time,"learn from Japan" and learn how to get along with the Trump administration in order to develop relations with the United States.

"Whether it is South Korea or Japan, the diplomatic priority is to develop and strengthen the alliance with the United States, and the two countries face a highly similar status quo and environment in dealing with the United States."

Wang Junsheng forecasts that the next development of South Korea-Japan relations will be relatively smooth, with low uncertainty, but historical and territorial issues remain long-term hidden dangers.

Beauty: Mutual benefit and contradiction

After his visit to Japan, Lee Jae-myung flew to Washington on the 24th for a three-day working visit to the United States.

South Korean Foreign Minister Zhao Zhao has arrived early and met with officials such as U.S. Secretary of State Rubio on 22rd to coordinate the agenda of the US-Korean heads of state talks scheduled for 25th.

It is expected that the leaders of South Korea and the United States will focus on three key issues.

The first is the modernization of the Korea-US alliance. It involves flexible deployment of U.S. troops in South Korea, improvement of defense budgets and defense expenses, etc.

U.S. President Trump has deliberately drawn up a long list of "demands" for South Korea: including considering reducing the size of troops to achieve strategic flexibility, calling on South Korea to increase its defense contribution from more than US$1 billion to US$5 billion or even US$10 billion, and increasing defense spending as a proportion of GDP from 3.8% to 5%. It is expected that the two sides will have to bargain at that time.

The second is the North Korean issue. So far, North Korea has not received the "olive branch" offered by Lee Jae-myung's government to ease relations.

Just before the Korean-American summit and during the joint military exercises of the two countries, Pyongyang tested two new types of air defense missiles on the 23rd.

The two heads of state are expected to exchange views on restarting dialogue between South Korea and North Korea and even the United States and North Korea and strengthening cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea.

The third is economic and trade issues. Including refining tariff agreements and strengthening cooperation in fields such as semiconductors and shipbuilding.

On the last day of his visit to the United States, Li Jaiming will travel to Philadelphia to visit the Philadelphia shipyard acquired by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Marine.

Wang Jinping added that the Korean-American summit is also expected to involve the Chinese issue, and in the face of U.S. pressure on China and China, Li in the Ming government to respond is worthy of concern.

There are also comments that in the face of Trump's "Lion's Open" and its uncertainty, Lee was in this visit with high risk and small earnings.

Wang Jin-sung believes that the United States has common interests in the fields of security, economic and trade, but there are also contradictions on the modernization of the alliance and defense expenses.

"Objectively speaking, the relationship between the United States and South Korea is asymmetrical, and the United States has more cards." Wang Junsheng said that given that Lee Jae-myung attaches great importance to the Korea-US alliance, there is a high probability that he will give up profits, but he will also safeguard South Korea's interests. The key depends on how Seoul finds a balance between the two.

Tag: attention and balance

Also on the 24th, the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, the special envoy of the President of South Korea will visit China.

The special mission is headed by former congressman Park Bingsi, members of which include several "Chinese Communists".

According to a briefing from the South Korean President's Office, this trip will emphasize the importance of the continued development of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the four-day visit, the special envoy group will participate in activities commemorating the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, meet with important people such as the China Foreign Minister, and ask Chinese people to hand over Li Zaiming's personal letter to China leaders.

Following the special envoy group, as the "second person" in the South Korean national protocol sequence, Speaker of the National Assembly Yu Won Sik is expected to be invited to attend the 80th anniversary of the victory of the China People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Wang Jinping said that this series of diplomatic offensives against China embodies the ¡°two-sidedness¡± of Lee¡¯s policy towards China ¨C emphasis and balance.

On the one hand, we attach great importance to relations with China.

Li issued a clear and coherent signal after he took office, emphasized the pragmatic handling of relations with China, in particular put forward the need to strengthen cooperation with China in the economic and trade field and the Korean Peninsula issue, and China-Korea relations also showed many new signs.

On the other hand, in the context of competition between China and the United States, we have balanced recent diplomatic activities with Japan and the United States.

However, judging from the signs that Li Zaiming himself has not yet visited China and may be absent from the September 3rd military parade, Li Zaiming also seems to be deliberately keeping a distance from China, perhaps to a certain extent in consideration of relations with the United States and to reassure the United States.

Generally speaking, Wang Junsheng is positive and optimistic about the development of China-ROK relations, but he also hopes that the South Korean government will go hand in hand with China, deal with relations with the United States and China in a bowl of water, and do not put China-ROK relations in the framework of the ROK-US alliance.

The entanglement behind "practicality"?

The public opinion believes that the wave of "grand-power diplomacy" in South Korea reflects Li's "practical diplomacy" characteristic based on the interests of the country.

Throughout Lee Jae-myung's foreign policy exposition during the election campaign and after taking office, although there are subtle differences or even corrections, the core remains unchanged, that is, he emphasizes "pragmatic diplomacy" and advocates realizing diplomatic diversification on the basis of safeguarding South Korea's national interests. This is considered to be completely different from the "value diplomacy" promoted by Yin Xiyue.

But in Wang Junsheng's opinion, Li Zaiming has not completely abandoned the foreign policy of the previous government, which is both different and continuous.

The difference is reflected in Li Zaiming's more pragmatism, which means that he does not stick to ideology, makes flexible policies, and pays more attention to "balance" rather than "one-sided".

Continuity now shows that the US-Korean alliance is at the core of foreign policy and attaches importance to Korean-Japanese relations, even faster than Yong Zhi has.

"This is mainly based on personal political interests and domestic and foreign political considerations." Wang Junsheng said that on the one hand, he has to stabilize his ruling position, and on the other hand, he has to look at the eyes of the United States because the United States is strong and South Korea is weak, reflecting that South Korea still lacks independence in its foreign policy.

Wang Jinping further pointed out that "confrontation" can also be considered as a key word for Li's foreign policy in the Ming government.

"Li Ziming's foreign policy shows the entanglement of 'both needs and needs'." Wang Junsheng said that we must attach great importance to the U.S. -South Korea alliance, but also to South Korea-Japan relations. At the same time, we also want to develop China-South Korea relations well. The policy lacks clear main lines and basic principles.

For example, when South Korea's new foreign minister, Cho Hsien, was interviewed by the US media on his first visit to the United States, he made inappropriate remarks related to China, but the South Korean government immediately clarified that it reflected South Korea's torn mentality of "wanting to please the United States while not offending China."

However, Wang Junsheng emphasized that Li Ziming has only taken office for more than two months, and foreign policy has not yet taken shape. Continuous observation is still needed, and it is not advisable to draw conclusions too early.

South Korean public opinion seems to see the heavy burden of Lee Jae-myung's diplomacy. Some commentators say that the current international situation is complex and severe - the intensification of strategic competition between China and the United States, the imposition of tariffs by the United States, the disagreement between the defense costs of the US military stationed in South Korea, the North Korean nuclear issue, the historical legacy problems of South Korea and Japan, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. South Korean diplomacy is full of difficulties. Whether the Lee Jae-myung government can respond pragmatically and flexibly as he said may be a formidable challenge.