Hong Jun-pyo Announces Korea First Diplomatic Pledge... "I Will Secure Biden's Promise for NATO-Style Nuclear Sharing"

Hong Joon-pyo, the People Power Party's presidential primary candidate, is announcing his pledge for a major reform in defense and security at his election campaign office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 26th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Hong Jun-pyo, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, announced a diplomatic pledge emphasizing ‘Korea First’ nationalism. He pledged to restore and strengthen Korea-US relations, pursue a ‘non-concessionist diplomacy toward China,’ and propose a future-oriented Korea-Japan relationship.

On the 27th, Hong announced the ‘Great Diplomatic Shift’ pledge at his presidential campaign office in Yeouido. The pledge includes signing a nuclear sharing agreement with the US, abolishing the THAAD 3-No policy with China, and swiftly resolving historical issues with Japan to achieve early reconciliation.

Hong stated, "The Moon Jae-in administration has engaged in ‘tightrope diplomacy’ by adopting strategic ambiguity without consistent principles amid the intensifying US-China strategic competition," adding, "As a result, it lost trust from both the US and China, creating a diplomatic dilemma. Relations with Japan have reached their worst due to the domestic political exploitation of ‘anti-Japan sentiment.’"

He promised, "If I become president, under the grand principle of ‘Korea First,’ I will normalize broken foreign relations with the US, China, and Japan to restore national pride and lay the foundation for Korea’s leap to a G7 advanced country."

Regarding diplomacy with the US, Hong’s plan includes, "Immediately after being elected president, I will hold the first summit with US President Joe Biden and establish an ‘Asia Nuclear Planning Group’ in bilateral or multilateral (Korea-US-Japan-Australia) formats to secure a NATO-style nuclear sharing system, including the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons." He added, "Instead of merely participating in multilateral security cooperation bodies such as the Quad, US-led democracy alliances, and the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence community, I will actively demand the conclusion of a nuclear sharing agreement and revision of the Korea-US Atomic Energy Agreement (pyroprocessing)."

Regarding Korea-China relations, he stated, "I will not recognize the ‘THAAD 3-No’ policy and will officially declare its abolition," and proposed, "We will break away from biased pro-China subservience, restore our national dignity and pride, and pursue a national interest-centered diplomacy toward China." In particular, Hong explained, "Through ‘non-concessionist diplomacy toward China,’ we will resist unfair sanctions and retaliation and strive for equitable burden-sharing of damages."

Regarding Korea-Japan relations, he said, "From the perspective of ‘leaving the past behind and moving toward the future,’ we will build a relationship based on common interests between Korea and Japan," and confirmed, "The Korea-Japan General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) will be maintained." Hong added, "The painful history of the past should be remembered to prevent recurrence but should not be linked to the future," and pledged, "I will actively work to ensure that historical issues such as comfort women and forced labor are resolved diplomatically at an early stage."

On the direction of foreign policy, Hong declared, "I will make nationalism (Korea First) the foundation of foreign policy." He also pledged to establish a ‘2050 Foreign Affairs and Security Council’ directly under the president by gathering domestic and international experts. Additionally, to unite the 7 million overseas Koreans, he promised to expand and reorganize the Overseas Koreans Foundation into the Overseas Koreans Agency and consider introducing a postal voting system to guarantee overseas Koreans’ voting rights.

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