US President Joe Biden speaks during a joint news conference with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in after a day of meetings at the White House, in Washington, US, on May 21, 2021.
US President Joe Biden has said he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in remain “deeply concerned” about the situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Moon, meanwhile, welcomed “America’s return” to the world stage and said both leaders pledged in their meeting to work closely toward denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Biden told a joint news conference with Moon that he was dispatching career diplomat Sung Kim, who previously served as ambassador to South Korea, to serve as the special envoy to the region.
Moon said the move by Biden “reflects the firm commitment of the US for exploring diplomacy and its readiness for dialogue with North Korea.”
He said that during their talks at the White House he and Moon discussed "freedom of navigation" for international shipping in the South China Sea, as well as "peace and stability" around Taiwan, which has been subjected to growing Chinese sabre-rattling.
US to vaccinate South Korean service members
Biden also announced that the US would vaccinate 550,000 South Korean service members who serve alongside US forces on the peninsula.
This marks the first commitment by the Biden administration for what it plans to do with the 80 million vaccine doses it aims to distribute globally in the next six weeks. Biden has said he hopes to use domestically produced vaccines as a modern-day “arsenal of democracy,” a reference to the US effort to arm allies in World War II. At the same time, the White House has pledged not to attach policy conditions to countries receiving the doses as global vaccine diplomacy heats up.
Moon came to Washington seeking renewed diplomatic urgency by the US on curbing North Korea’s nuclear program, even as the White House signaled that it is taking a longer view on the issue. Biden also wanted to discuss coordination in vaccine distribution, climate change and regional security concerns spurred by China.
Their meeting was only Biden's second in-person session with a foreign leader because of the coronavirus pandemic. His first was with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Biden also used the meeting to press South Korea to adopt a more ambitious 2030 target for curbing carbon emissions and to urge Seoul to do more to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden also wants Moon to take a strong stance on China's activity toward Taiwan and other provocative moves Beijing has made in the region. Biden has sought to rally Pacific allies to coordinate on China, which Biden sees as the United States' fiercest economic competitor.
South Korea could be reluctant to speak out about China, an important trading partner that it also sees as key in dealing with the North Korean government. Moon told the press conference “there was no pressure” on the issue from Biden in their meeting.
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US policy with North Korea
Moon said he and Biden spoke "like old friends” and emphasised the need for cooperation on security issues in the region.
“The most urgent common task that our two countries must undertake is achieving complete denuclearisation and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
Biden did not rule out meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But in a veiled reference to former president Donald Trump’s charm offensive with Kim, Biden said he would not replicate the efforts of the “recent past.”
Trump met face-to-face with the dictator on three occasions and exchanged what he called “love letters” with the leader.
“I would not give him all that he’s looking for," Biden said of Kim, namely “international recognition.”
The White House announced last month that it had completed a review of North Korea policy and Biden would veer from the strategies of his two most recent predecessors, rejecting both Trump’s deeply personal effort to win over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Barack Obama’s more hands-off approach.
But the administration has yet to detail what its third-way effort to try to prod the North to abandon its nuclear program will look like.
Moon, who will leave office next May, is eager to resume stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang and between Seoul and Pyongyang.
But the Biden administration, which confirmed in March that it had made outreach efforts to the North without success, has been less enthusiastic about the idea of direct negotiations in the near term.
Still, Moon made clear before the meeting that he would nudge Biden to renew diplomatic efforts with the North.
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