Lee Soo-hyuk "Closely Coordinating US North Korea Policy Review... Alliance Reciprocity Spirit Important"

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Lee Soo-hyuk, the South Korean ambassador to the United States, stated that the Joe Biden administration is reviewing a comprehensive North Korea policy and will go through a process of consultation and coordination with South Korea.

Lee Soo-hyuk, Ambassador to the United States, answering questions from the press (right) [Image source=Yonhap News]

At a press briefing on the 16th (local time), the ambassador said, "The Biden administration agrees that the North Korean nuclear issue is urgent and important, and is conducting a policy review to prepare a comprehensive North Korea strategy. Through close dialogue with South Korea, we will be able to jointly develop the strategy."

It has been reported that the U.S. comprehensive North Korea policy review also includes North Korea's human rights issues, and that the policy decision is not expected to take a long time.

Since the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration, South Korean and U.S. authorities have judged that there have been no signs of provocations from North Korea.

The ambassador emphasized the spirit of reciprocity, saying, "It is necessary to properly manage mutual expectations (between South Korea and the U.S.). The United States sees us as a partner to jointly address major international issues and global challenges, and especially under the Biden administration, which prefers a multilateral approach, there will be high expectations for the role of the alliance."

The ambassador introduced that he recently met with Kurt Campbell, White House National Security Council (NSC) Indo-Pacific Coordinator, and Sung Kim, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, to exchange views on the South Korea-U.S. Special Measures Agreement (SMA) on defense cost-sharing and the comprehensive North Korea strategy.

It is also known that South Korea and the U.S. are discussing coordination and cooperation on U.S. China policy and the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. reportedly prioritizes China policy as its top priority. However, the North Korea policy is being approached as an independent issue, not linked to China policy.

The U.S. government has stated it will review the overall North Korea policy, but it appears to be keeping all options open, including the bilateral talks approach of the Donald Trump administration and past multilateral dialogue formats.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.