Ukraine, China main focus as South Korean president visits White House
Washington PostAPR 2023
This is another move taken under the Yoon administration to strengthen South Korean ties with its democratic allies. While this decision can indeed be in the country's national interest, Seoul should refrain from creating enmities with its powerful neighbors — China and Russia — and rather maintain its decades-old strategic balance.
Japan and South Korea have been warming ties — without any pressure from the US — after decades of distant relations, in response to Beijing's growing aggression in the Indo-Pacific. While some claim that moves to counter China are part of US-led groupthink, it gets more clear by the day that the demand is in fact being exerted the other way around, directly from US allies in Asia.