South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has arrived in Washington for a six-day state visit to the US expected to strengthen the allies’ response to North Korea’s nuclear threat and other challenges in a symbolic year marking the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
Yoon is the first South Korean President since Lee Myung-bak in 2011 to pay a state visit to the US and the second foreign leader after French President Emmanuel Macron to pay such a visit under American President Joe Biden’s administration, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Under the theme “alliance in action, toward the future”, the visit comes at a time of growing concern over North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile capabilities and questions about the credibility of Washington’s “extended deterrence” commitment to Seoul.
A joint statement on measures to enhance extended deterrence — or the US commitment to mobilizing the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally — is expected to be a highlight of Yoon’s summit with Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
The summit will be preceded by an official arrival ceremony and followed by a state dinner hosted by Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
Yoon will be joined by First Lady Kim Keon Hee.
The summit will mark the sixth meeting between Yoon and Biden, following those in Seoul last May and then in Madrid, London, New York and Phnom Penh.
The South Korean leader is being accompanied by a 122-person business delegation made up of chiefs of conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung, and the heads of six major business associations, including the Federation of Korean Industries and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others.
On Tuesday, Yoon will attend a ceremony where US advanced technology firms will announce plans to invest in South Korea, and a business roundtable involving some 30 CEOs of major companies from both countries, including Samsung, SK, Hyundai, Qualcomm, Lam Research and Boeing.
The President will also visit the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center just outside Washington the same day to discuss space cooperation between the two countries and meet with Korean scientists working for NASA.
The 70th anniversary of the alliance will be a theme that runs through the visit, with Yoon and First Lady Kim set to join the Bidens on a visit to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington on Tuesday.
On Thursday, he will deliver an address before a joint session of Congress and look back on the past 70 years of an alliance rooted in the shared values of liberal democracy, the rule of law and human rights, address the challenges the two countries face and present a blueprint for the alliance’s way forward.
He will then have lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken before moving to an undisclosed location to receive a briefing from US military leaders.
Also on Thursday, he will attend a global video content leadership forum to present a vision for cultural solidarity and cooperation between the two countries, and meet with officials from American mass media companies, such as Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal Media, Sony Pictures, The Walt Disney Company and Netflix.
Later that day, Yoon will travel to Boston and hold discussions on Friday with digital and bio scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He will also deliver an address at Harvard University the same day.
He will wrap up his trip and depart for Seoul on Saturday.