When President Park Geun-hye visits Washington next month, there will naturally be a lot of attention on North Korea. The October 16 Summit meeting will closely follow the 70th anniversary of DPRK independence on October 10, which Pyongyang’s leaders have threatened to celebrate with a ballistic missile test or other challenging gestures. President Obama will also want to hear about the progress of North-South dialogue launched by the high-level meeting that settled tensions between the two Koreas in August.
Regional security issues will also loom large. It will be timely for the two Presidents to exchange views on relations with China in the wake of President Park’s attendance at the Chinese victory celebration in August and Xi Jinping’s September visit to Washington. The two leaders will also want to discuss the role of Japan and our common interest in a restoration of constructive ties between the ROK and Japan in advance of the expected Korea-China-Japan summit and other important meetings later this fall. Our alliance rests on mutual understanding of the security challenges surrounding the Korean Peninsula, and this will be a good time to take stock at the highest level. In this regard, President Park’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation initiative is an inclusive concept that could be a vehicle for resolving differences in Asia that relate to our broad security and economic interests. It deserves careful attention in Washington.
More broadly, I hope our two leaders will also take time to address our global partnership, which grows more important each year. Most clearly set forth in the Joint Vision statement issued after President Lee Myung-bak’s meeting with President Obama in 2009, our global partnership rests on the fact that we are both democracies and proponents of free and open economies and that we share a profound interest in promoting these values while dealing with problems ranging from development, to climate change, to public health, to non-proliferation. One of the reasons our bilateral relationship has become so strong in recent years is that we have more and more to talk about.
Koreans rightly perceive their nation as a leading middle power with global interests, and Americans welcome the broader role Korea is playing in international organizations, exemplified by Ban Ki-moon’s leadership as UN Secretary General. Korea has been a global economic leader, chairing one of the first G-20 meetings. Korea is the first foreign aid recipient country to become a major aid donor. It is also a leader on climate change. As host of the Green Climate Fund, Korea is working hard internationally to insure that adequate funds are available to support efforts by developing countries to curb carbon emissions.
Global partnership has an important security dimension. Korea’s contribution to our common security interests outside the Korean Peninsula goes back to the Vietnam War, where the ROK lost more than 5,000 men in combat. More recently, Korea has been a major contributor to UN peacekeeping missions around the world. The global reach of Korean companies means that Korea has a stake in the resolution of conflicts wherever they occur. Koreans have been responsible in abiding by sanctions vis a vis Iran and Russia despite considerable short-term economic costs; like the US, they need to think about how they can do more to address the enormous humanitarian crisis facing refugees from Africa and the Middle East.
Sharing a peninsula with an unpredictable regime pursuing nuclear weapons makes the ROK particularly sensitive to non-proliferation concerns. In this regard, I am especially pleased we have come to terms on a new agreement that will be the basis for continued bilateral nuclear cooperation as Korea expands its role as a leading use of nuclear power at home and as a growing supplier of nuclear power abroad, often in close cooperation with American companies.
Finally, the two Presidents will want to assess progress under our bilateral free trade agreement (KORUS.) KORUS is a vital new element in our strategic partnership and it is important that it be implemented fully, both in letter and spirit. In many respects, KORUS is the template for the broader Transpacific Partnership (TPP) now entering the final stages of negotiations. In my view, it is unfortunate that Korea will not be an original signatory of TPP, but it is important that Korea join as early as possible. Just as the bilateral KORUS FTA is a key element of our strategic relationship, having Korea in the TPP will help create a broader base for cementing the US presence in the region. Along with our continued security presence, US economic engagement will gain in importance as Korea expands its global role and develops its ties with China, which I hope will one day also be a member of TPP.