U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday fended off questions during a visit to Seoul over the White House’s willingness to speak out more vocally following impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law.
Blinken, on what was likely his final visit to the region as the United States’ top diplomat, met his counterpart and the country’s acting president for talks aimed at encouraging stability and continuity with the U.S. ally — including in its much-improved relations with Japan — amid the political chaos as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.
The United States has “serious concerns” about Yoon’s actions, but at the same time it “has confidence in the resilience of South Korea’s democracy and the strength of its institutions,” Blinken told a televised joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
"We reaffirm our unwavering support for the Korean people as they work tirelessly to uphold those institutions," he added.
Blinken also reiterated the United States’ "ironclad commitment" to defending South Korea during earlier talks with acting President Choi Sang-mok in which the two spoke about "how both sides will work together to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and trilateral cooperation with Japan," according to the U.S. State Department.
Blinken’s visit, the first stop on a trip that will also take him to Japan, came as authorities were attempting to arrest the embattled Yoon, who remains ensconced in his residence following his impeachment. The arrest warrant for Yoon was set to expire Monday, though officials were attempting to have it extended.
If the warrant is executed, Yoon would become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.
Nevertheless, both allies appeared eager to put a good face on the relationship Monday, with Blinken telling Choi that he has "complete trust” in his leadership, according to a statement released by Seoul. Choi, who is also serving as finance minister, is the country’s second acting leader since Yoon was impeached last month. The South’s Constitutional Court is currently deliberating whether to finalize Yoon’s removal.
The administration of outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden has lauded Yoon for his willingness to mend ties with Japan and for boosting the three countries’ trilateral security relationship amid growing tensions with North Korea and China. Yoon had faced domestic criticism for sidelining citizens seeking apologies and reparations from Japan over issues related to its 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
In 2023, Yoon joined Biden for a historic Camp David trilateral summit with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, giving the White House a big win that it has repeatedly cited as evidence of its successful push to build up U.S. alliances following Trump’s first stint in the White House.
Choi said in a statement that South Korea remained committed to the "principles and agreements from the Camp David summit," adding that Seoul “will continue to maintain its diplomatic and security policies based on a strong Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance and trilateral cooperation among the ROK, the U.S. and Japan."
In a testament to the importance of those ties as underlined by Blinken, nuclear-armed North Korea fired off one of its powerful intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBM) just as the top U.S. diplomat was holding his meetings in Seoul.
"Today's launch is just a reminder to all of us of how important our collaborative work is," Blinken told a news conference with Cho, his South Korean counterpart.
South Korea's military said that the North had fired off what it believed was an IRBM toward the Sea of Japan from the Pyongyang area at around noon, with the weapon traveling some 1,100 kilometers.
It said that allied intelligence authorities had monitored the North's preparations for the launch — the nuclear-armed country’s first of the year — and "immediately detected and tracked" it, sharing relevant information with Japan.
Japan's Defense Ministry also confirmed the launch, saying, too, that it had traveled about 1,100 km at an altitude of about 100 km before splashing down just outside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
"The series of actions taken by North Korea, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threaten the peace and security of our country, the region and the international community," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Tokyo has "strongly protested and condemned" the move.
In Seoul, Blinken also singled out North Korea’s budding partnership with Russia, which he said has been bolstering space cooperation with Pyongyang, including in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
"The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training,” Blinken said, using the abbreviation for North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology with Pyongyang.”
North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to Russia for the latter's war against Ukraine and is believed to be receiving food and other aid in return, in addition to the space and satellite technology Blinken mentioned.
Blinken also reiterated a recent claim by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield that Washington also believes Moscow "may be close" to formally accepting Pyongyang's status as a nuclear power.
Monday's launch was Pyongyang's first since U.S. voters elected Trump to a second stint in the White House on Nov. 5. The North last fired off a missile just hours before that vote took place, sending multiple short-range weapons into waters outside Japan's EEZ.
In an apparent signal to the U.S. president-elect ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration, North Korea used a key party meeting overseen by leader Kim Jong Un late last month to announce its “toughest” ever strategy to counter the United States.
Trump in 2018 became the first-ever sitting U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader when he met Kim in Singapore. They held two other rounds of talks, though denuclearization negotiations ultimately foundered and the North returned to building up its increasingly advanced nuclear and missile programs.
Trump repeatedly touted his good relationship with Kim during his campaign, but managing the growing threat posed by Pyongyang will again be a top foreign policy challenge during his second White House stint.
Kim last month appeared uninterested in the prospect of returning to denuclearization talks, using his first public remarks since the U.S. presidential election to pour cold water on the idea.
“We already did everything possible in the bilateral negotiations with the United States, and what we were eventually convinced of was not the superpower’s will to co-exist with us but its domineering stand and unchangeably aggressive and hostile policy towards the DPRK,” Kim said at the time.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.