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South Korean government officials recently revealed that U.S. President Trump is expected to make a two-day visit to South Korea at the end of this month.According to South Korea's Central Daily on October 19, the South Korean presidential office is considering awarding Trump the "Infinity Medal", the highest-ranking medal in South Korea.

Trump¡¯s plan to visit South Korea has not yet been officially confirmed, but South Korean National Security Adviser Wei Sanlo revealed on October 16 that Trump may visit South Korea from October 29 to 30. The South Korean Presidential Office issued a statement on October 19 saying: ¡°We areining close communication with the US side and are carefully reviewing the schedule and arrangements to ensure the visit is fruitful.¡±

It is reported that the South Korean government is considering awarding Trump the Infinite Flower Medal. In response, a relevant person from the South Korean President's Office responded: "There have been similar cases in the past and are currently under study."

Korean Medal of Infinity Video

The Korean National Daily pointed out that the Medal of Infinite Flowers is the highest-level medal in South Korea. It is awarded internally to successive presidents and first ladies of South Korea, and externally to foreign heads of state and their spouses when diplomatic protocol exchanges medals. For example, in 2018, then South Korean President Moon Jae-in awarded the Medal of Infinite Flowers to French President Macron.

South Korea's "East Asia Daily" said that as the highest-level medal, the Medal of the Infinite Flower was made from precious metals and mounted with jewels such as gold, silver, red gemstone and purple crystal.

According to public information, South Korea has not yet awarded the Medal of Infinite Flowers to the President of the United States.

Trump has expressed his yearning for medals in the past. In August 2019, Trump revealed in a speech that he had tried to award himself the highest military medal in the United States, the Medal of Honor, but finally gave up the idea after being persuaded by aides.

Picture of the meeting between Trump and Li Zai-ming

South Korea has reached a trade agreement with the United States, and the United States agreed to reduce its 25% tariffs to 15%, but demanded that South Korea invest $350 billion in the United States.On specific investment plans, there are still differences between the two countries, and the United States demanded that South Korea "nearly all funds be in cash", while South Korea believes that this requirement "outside the scope of what South Korea can bear."

However, Kim Yong-bham, director of the Policy Office of the South Korean President's Office, revealed on the 19th that the two countries have made "substantial progress" on most key issues.

According to the East Asia Daily, South Korea has proposed to the United States to set up an investment fund of $350 billion to invest for a 10-year period in a combination of loans and guarantees. Kim said that negotiations are still ongoing, "within the assumption that the project is tolerable and mutually beneficial in South Korea, the views of the two sides have been quite close."

He believes that during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, the possibility of South Korea and the United States finalizing the agreement has increased.

On the occasion of Trump's visit to South Korea, the APEC Leaders' Informal Meeting will be held in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea from October 31 to November 1. During his visit to South Korea, whether Trump will meet with Kim Jong Un, the top leader of North Korea, has become a topic of general concern to the outside world.

CNN quoted people familiar with the matter as saying on the 18th that US government officials had privately discussed and planned to arrange Trump's meeting with Kim Jong Un during his trip to Asia. However, people familiar with the matter said that US officials have not started any substantive logistics planning work required for the meeting, and the United States and the DPRK have not carried out any communication. Therefore, many people are skeptical about whether the meeting can eventually take place.

Extended reading

On October 7th, local time, John Noh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs of the U.S. Department of Defense, made a big remark in the Senate, claiming that South Korea's many defense capabilities can contribute to containing the "aggressive" China.

Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" reported on October 10 that after this comment appeared, many South Korean analysts immediately made it clear that as Washington increased pressure on Seoul and asked it to clarify its role in containing China, South Korea should adhere to pragmatic diplomacy to safeguard its own national interests.

They warned that if South Korea is overly inclined toward the U.S., under Trump¡¯s ¡°deal-style American president,¡± it could get into diplomatic trouble and lose spaces in the context of rising global uncertainty.

One of the experts said that at present, the United States is urging South Korea to make a public statement and admit that it will participate in the efforts to contain China. Another expert reminded that the ROK needs to maintain a stable relationship with China so that China can play a constructive role in maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In the face of the Trump administration, today¡¯s South Korea seems to be forced to ¡°defeat¡± and ¡°shoot China¡±, but can it play? after grinding these Korean people¡¯s views, the South China Morning newspaper¡¯s reporting headline seems to give the answer ¨C ¡°South Korea can¡¯t afford to lose China.¡±

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia John Noah

Doo Jin-ho of Korea's National Strategic Research Institute told This Week in Asia, a subsidiary of South China Morning Post: "While building on the US-South Korea alliance and putting national interests at the core, South Korea should plan its route on a case-by-case basis to shuttle through an increasingly volatile diplomatic situation."

He pointed out: "South Korea cannot lose China as its largest trading partner, especially when the United States imposes high tariffs on its traditional allies and its commitment to the defense of its allies is not as firm as it used to be."

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korean Unified Institute (KINU), said that when Washington pressured Seoul to clarify its role in curbing China, ¡°practices¡± and ¡°national interests¡± have become guiding principles for South Korea.

In addition to high tariffs, South Korea is also facing increasing military pressure from the United States, requiring it to bear the costs of more U.S. troops stationed in South Korea (currently about 28500 people) and significantly increasing defense spending.

¡°In the face of an increasingly powerful United States, South Korea is doing its best to please Trump to avoid a positive conflict with Washington, and hopes the storm will eventually pass.¡±

A diplomatic source, who declined to be named, revealed that in the early days of South Korea's conservative former President Yin Xiyue's government, the US (Biden administration) had asked South Korea what contribution it could make in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

"This incident shows that no matter which party is in power in Washington, South Korea will continue to face the same pressure." The source said.

John Noah, a Korean-American official who served as a U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan, later worked in law and served as an assistant prosecutor in Texas in drug trafficking cases. He also served as a legal adviser to the U.S. House¡¯s ¡°Special Committee on Chinese Affairs¡± and hypnotized ¡°China Threat Theory¡±.

On October 7, local time, John No attended the confirmation hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. He said that if the nomination is confirmed, he will become the "strongest advocate" within the Pentagon, ensuring that the United States has "all necessary resources" to strengthen deterrence in the "Indo-Pacific region." He supported Trump in putting pressure on American "allies and partners" in Asia to increase defense spending.

In a written response submitted to the Senate Military Committee, John Noah also argued that South Korea and other allies should ¡°significantly¡± increase defense spending and assume more regional security responsibilities. He stated that while South Korea should primarily focus on leading the US-Korean alliance¡¯s work on conventional deterrence of North Korea, many of its defense capabilities can also contribute to ¡°controlling China.¡±

The South China Morning Post believes that John No's remarks reflect the United States 'attempt to "modernize" the U.S. -South Korea alliance and ensure its "strategic sustainability" at a time when competition among major powers intensifies.

John Noah¡¯s argument highlighted that the U.S. viewed China as a ¡°increasing threat to South Korea¡¯s naval interests,¡± a statement aimed at stressing the need for South Korea to join the U.S.-led counteraction against China.

¡°The United States is urging South Korea to clearly contain the scope of its role in China¡¯s actions in its dominated ¡®Indo-Pacific region¡¯,¡± said Dong Huang, pointing out that South Korea has relied on trilateral security cooperation with the United States and Japan to maintain ¡°strategic ambiguity¡± in order to balance relations with the two great powers, while South Korea envisages a trilateral framework mainly for deterrence of North Korea, but for the United States and Japan, this mechanism is also a platform to ¡°treat China.¡±

¡°Now, this diplomatic strategy is clearly coming to an end.¡±In these circumstances, Dong Wei believes that South Korea needs to manage relations with China byining economic cooperation, reopening the military hotline, and restoring humanitarian programs, including the return of the remains of the South Korean People¡¯s Volunteer Martyrs who were suspended during the Yongxian government.

"We need to maintain a stable relationship with China so that it can play a constructive role in maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula." Du Zhenhao said.

Although the joint military exercise between the United States, South Korea and Japan was officially declared to contain North Korea, Hong Min pointed out that "its scale and content have far exceeded this purpose". "Now, the United States is urging South Korea to publicly acknowledge that it will participate in efforts to contain China," he said.

According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on October 7, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, had a telephone conversation with South Korean Foreign Minister Zhao Xian.

Wang Yi said that China and South Korea are important neighbors and close partners.China has always attached importance to China-Korea relations, and is willing to enhance mutual trust with South Korea, eliminate interference, deepen cooperation, and mutual achievements, and jointly contribute to regional peace and stability and development and prosperity.

Wang Yi pointed out that China and Korea will host an informal meeting of the leaders of the APEC next two years in a row, hoping that the two sides will support each other, further consolidate consensus, strengthen unity and cooperation, safeguard the international trade system, adhere to the multilateralism philosophy, promote the process of the Asia-Pacific free trade zone, and make positive efforts towards building the Asia-Pacific community.

Cho Xian said that South Korea attaches great importance to and will do its best to develop relations with China, and looks forward to taking the opportunity of hosting the APEC Leaders 'Informal Meeting to promote high-level exchanges between the two countries and deepen exchanges and cooperation.