President-elect Yoon May Hold South Korea-US Summit Around 25th After Inauguration Next Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] It has been reported that President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol will hold a South Korea-U.S. summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Seoul as early as the 25th of next month.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol visited Sangju Central Market in Sangju, Gyeongbuk, on the afternoon of the 11th and expressed his gratitude to the citizens who came out to welcome him./Photo by Transition Team Photographers

As North Korea is increasingly likely to carry out strategic provocations such as nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches around the 110th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth on the 15th and the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army on the 25th, the South Korean and U.S. governments are expected to engage in close consultations.

According to foreign media and diplomatic sources on the 12th, U.S. President Joe Biden said during a virtual summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 11th (local time), "I look forward to seeing Prime Minister Modi in Japan around May 24."

The White House stated in a press release after the summit that the two leaders expressed hope to hold an in-person meeting in Japan in late spring for the Quad summit.

The Quad is a China-containment consultative body consisting of the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India. Since Biden took office, it has been elevated to a summit-level forum, reflecting the Biden administration's strong focus on it. The Quad leaders agreed during a virtual meeting in March to hold an in-person summit in Japan this spring, but no specific date had been mentioned until now.

With a specific date now mentioned, if the Quad summit is held in Japan on May 24, the possibility of a South Korea-U.S. summit on the 25th or 26th has increased. This is because if President Biden visits Japan to attend the Quad summit on the 24th of next month, there is a considerable chance he will visit South Korea as well.

The fact that South Korea and the U.S. share a consensus on holding an early summit is also positive. Park Jin, head of the South Korea-U.S. policy consultation delegation dispatched by President-elect Yoon, said at a press briefing on the 7th, "Both South Korea and the U.S. commonly agree on the need for an early South Korea-U.S. summit," adding, "President Biden expressed that if he has an opportunity to visit Asia, it would be highly desirable to visit South Korea and hold a summit, and we confirmed that the U.S. side shares the same view."

Since President-elect Yoon will be inaugurated on the 10th of next month, if the South Korea-U.S. summit is held in the latter part of the same month, it will be the earliest summit between the two countries among all previous administrations.

President Moon Jae-in held his first summit with then-U.S. President Donald Trump 51 days after his inauguration; former President Park Geun-hye met then-President Barack Obama 71 days after her inauguration; former President Lee Myung-bak met then-President George W. Bush 54 days after his inauguration; and former President Roh Moo-hyun held his first summit with President Bush 79 days after his inauguration.

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