SEOUL
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives late Sunday in crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president. Blinken will hold talks with counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Monday, the same day a warrant expires to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol who unsuccessfully tried to impose martial law on December 3.
\nSeoul is the first stop on what will likely be Blinken\u2019s final trip as the top US diplomat as he seeks to highlight President Joe Biden\u2019s record rallying democratic allies before the return of the more mercurial Donald Trump. Blinken will head afterwards to Tokyo, making it crucial in the eyes of his advisors not to snub South Korea, which has a fraught and often competitive relationship with Japan, a fellow US ally also home to thousands of American troops.
\nYoon had once been a darling of the Biden administration with his bold moves to turn the page on friction with Japan and his eye on a greater role for South Korea on global issues. Yoon joined Biden for a landmark three-way summit with Japan\u2019s prime minister and — months before declaring martial law — was picked to lead a global democracy summit, a signature initiative for the outgoing US administration.
\nYoon also memorably charmed his hosts on a state visit by belting out \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d at a White House dinner. Blinken may face some criticism from the South Korean left for the visit but should be able to navigate the political crisis, said Sydney Seiler, a former US intelligence officer focused on Korea now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
\nBlinken has a high enough profile to be above the fray, and can keep the focus on challenges such as China and North Korea, he said. \u201cBlinken can dodge a lot of these domestic South Korean landmines relatively easily and contextualise it not as trying to help the ruling party or artificially create a sense of normalcy where it otherwise isn\u2019t,\u201d Seiler said.
\nIn a statement, the State Department did not directly mention the political crisis but said Blinken would seek to preserve trilateral cooperation with Japan, which has included enhanced intelligence sharing on North Korea.
\nBlinken\u2019s visit comes at a time of change for both countries, with Trump returning to the White House on January 20.
\nParadoxically, while Biden worked closely with the conservative Yoon, Trump in his first term enjoyed a warm relationship with then progressive president Moon Jae-in, who encouraged the US president\u2019s groundbreaking personal diplomacy with North Korea. The Biden administration has stressed since the crisis that it is reaching out to South Korean politicians across the divide, amid the uncertainties on who will lead Asia\u2019s fourth-largest economy.
\nProgressive opposition leader Lee Jae-myung — who himself faces election disqualification in a court case — supports diplomacy with North Korea.But the former labour activist has also taken stances that differ from those of both Biden and Trump. Lee has criticised deployment of US-made THAAD missile defences, which Washington says are meant to protect against North Korea but which China sees as a provocation.
\nSouth Korea\u2019s left has long championed a harder stance on Japan over its brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula.US officials said they had no warning of Yoon\u2019s imposition of martial law, which brought masses of protesters to the streets. Blinken, addressing reporters last month, said the crisis showed the strength of South Korea\u2019s institutions built in the three decades since it embraced democracy.
\n\u201cI think Korea is one of the most powerful stories in the world about the emergence of democracy and democratic resilience, and we\u2019ll continue to look to Korea to set that example,\u201d Blinken said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives late Sunday in crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president. Blinken will hold talks with counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Monday, the same day a warrant expires to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-453736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n