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| ▲ This file photo, taken Nov. 13, 2022, shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden posing for a photo during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh. (Yonhap) |
US-S Korea relations
U.S. S. Korea forging closer cooperation on N. Korea, regional issues: CRS report
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Yonhap) -- The United States and South Korea are enhancing their cooperation to tackle various issues including North Korea, a U.S. congressional report said Friday.
President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk Yeol, are also seeking to expand their countries' multilateral cooperation with Japan to rein in North Korea's escalating provocations, the report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) suggested.
"President Joseph Biden and Yoon have capitalized on greater U.S.-ROK strategic alignment by forging closer cooperation on North Korea policy through military exercises and expanding trilateral cooperation with Japan," it said.
The report is the latest update of the CRS' longstanding paper on U.S.-South Korea relations, which comes before Yoon's scheduled State Visit to Washington later this month.
The South Korean president is set to arrive here on April 24, becoming the first South Korean leader to make a State Visit to the U.S. since 2011. He is also scheduled to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on April 27, becoming the first South Korean head of state to do so since 2013.
The report notes that the U.S. and South Korea have become increasingly more aligned in many policy perspectives under the new South Korean leader.
"South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in office since May 2022, is seeking to transform South Korea into a "global pivotal state" by raising its profile beyond the Korean Peninsula and becoming a more active partner in the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy," it said, also noting that South Korea issued its first-ever Indo-Pacific strategy last year.
"Despite the growing alignment, South Korea's approach to China is less confrontational than the United States', and U.S.-ROK economic friction had increased due to South Korean complaints about the electronic vehicle (EV) provisions in P.L. 117-169, known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022," it added.
ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
The U.S. and South Korea are, however, more aligned when it comes to dealing with North Korea, according to the report.
"Whereas the previous ROK government emphasized diplomacy with North Korea, Yoon and Biden have emphasized deterrence," it said, noting the countries have reactivated "high-level consultations on extended deterrence" while the U.S. has increased deployments of strategic assets such as stealth fighters jets to the region.
"Alongside these steps, the two allies have offered Pyongyang unconditional humanitarian assistance, and Yoon has pledged to provide large-scale economic assistance if North Korea "embarks on a genuine and substantive process for denuclearization"," added the report.
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