{"id":24629,"date":"2022-05-19T09:27:18","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T09:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=24629"},"modified":"2022-05-19T09:27:29","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T09:27:29","slug":"biden-visit-to-test-south-korean-leaders-tough-talk-on-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=24629","title":{"rendered":"Biden visit to test South Korean leader\u2019s tough talk on China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During campaigning in South Korea\u2019s presidential election, Yoon Suk-yeol promised to strike a clear path in his country\u2019s long-running dilemma over how to balance relations with the United States and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the two global superpowers jostling for economic and military supremacy in Asia, the candidate for the conservative People Power Party pledged to decisively side with its security ally the US, even if it risked South Korea\u2019s crucial trade relationship with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoon said he would go as far as to expand the presence of a US missile defence system called THAAD in South Korea, which sparked costly unofficial sanctions on South Korean goods and culture by China and set off years of frosty relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only weeks after taking office on May 10<\/a>, Yoon will see his loyalties tested in his own back yard on Friday, when US President Joe Biden visits Seoul as part of a trip to Asia that also includes Japan, another US ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"U.S.
US President Joe Biden\u2019s upcoming visit to Seoul has highlighted South Korea\u2019s tricky balancing act between Washington and Beijing [File: Leah Millis\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biden\u2019s visit comes as global trade is facing pressure from more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to energy and food supply chains due to Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is by far South Korea\u2019s largest trading partner, taking more than one-quarter of its exports, and Seoul relies on its massive neighbour to power key industries such as chips and autos. South Korea also has a comprehensive security alliance with the US that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War. The country still hosts approximately 28,000 American troops on its soil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During campaigning in South Korea\u2019s presidential election, Yoon Suk-yeol promised to strike a clear path in his country\u2019s long-running dilemma over how to balance relations with the United States and China. With the two global superpowers jostling for economic and military supremacy in Asia, the candidate for the conservative People Power Party pledged to decisively side with its security ally the US, even if it risked South Korea\u2019s crucial trade relationship with China. Yoon said he would go as far as to expand the presence of a US missile defence system called THAAD in South Korea, which sparked costly unofficial… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24631,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24629\/revisions\/24631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}