Secretary of State Kerry urges to further solidify S. Korea-U.S. alliance

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Seoul on Sunday after visiting China, will pay courtesy visit to President Park Geun-hye and hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se on Monday. In Northeast Asia, China and Russia are strengthening their ties to counter strengthening alliance between the U.S. and Japan, and power dynamics between the four powers are fluctuating wildly. North Korea test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and has significantly increased threatening of South Korea, and executed its former Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol, No. 2 man in the North Korean military, in a surprise move. As the top diplomats of South Korea and the U.S. are meeting amid this situation, they are expected to hold practical discussions that would help further solidify their alliance in order to ensure that they can more flexibly cope with emerging challenges.

More than anything, it is important that they send a stern message to North Korea, by sternly warning the North against its reckless acts of provocation, and strengthening their readiness to ensure that no loophole is found in security. Deterrence against the North should robustly be strengthened to ensure Pyongyang will not make ill-advised judgment. In the wake of the conclusion of Iranian nuclear talks, North Korea’s nuclear weapons have become the only unsolved agenda that threatens security of the international community. In his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Kerry warned the North, by saying that as long as the North keeps its nuclear ambition, its economic and diplomatic isolation will further intensify. Now, South Korea and the U.S. need to discuss a better strategy on how to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization.

Defense ministers of the U.S. and China discussed Korean Peninsula issues, but the biggest pending issue between the two nations is conflict in the South China Sea. The U.S. is seeking to put the brakes on China’s move to construct seven manmade islands that are equipped with a runway for military aircraft at Spratly Islands, over which a total of six countries are making terrestrial claims. Despite such race for supremacy by the two countries, Secretary Kerry retreated somewhat with regard to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) initiative led by China, saying that there were some misunderstandings.

During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to China, Beijing agreed to seek to resolve territorial dispute with India early on, and significantly strengthen economic cooperation. The two countries with a combined population of 2.5 billion are moving to secure mutual interests by using the strategy of "easy things first and difficult things later." The same holds true with fast strengthening of ties between Beijing and Moscow as well. Flexible diplomacy strategy by countries in and outside the Northeast Asia region, which is thoroughly based on practical interest, is setting off alarm bell over South Korea’s diplomacy that is struggling to seek justification and cause.

It became clear that Washington values Japan the most as the Asian partner. It is meaningless to physically compare President Park Geun-hye’s visit to the U.S. next month with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s. What is more desirable than that is to further solidify the South Korea-U.S. alliance. With Secretary Kerry’s visit to South Korea, the two countries are urged to mobilize wisdom to further strengthen their alliance.