Yoon's delegation makes rounds in Washington

People Power Party Rep. Park Jin, center, responds to questions from the press after meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at the State Department on Monday. [PARK HYUN-YOUNG]

Washington and Seoul are on the same page on defense ties in light of escalating regional tensions brought on by North Korean provocations, People Power Party Rep. Park Jin said after meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at the State Department on Monday.

“Substantial and fruitful consultations were held,” Park told a group of reporters after the meeting with Sherman. “The U.S. side also welcomed the president-elect's initiative to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance, which is a key pillar of regional security and prosperity, into a partnership that contributes at the global level, such as responding to the Ukraine crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Park added that in light of escalating regional tensions, both administrations agreed that it is “most important to maintain a deterrent force” that can strongly respond to “any provocations” from the North.

“We shared the view that a high-level strategic meeting to strengthen the combined defense posture and extended deterrence is very important,” Park said. The two administrations share the view that the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of the North must be accomplished for peace on the Korean Peninsula, he said, bringing back an acronym that has been generally avoided in recent years by both Korean and U.S. administrations during a period of diplomatic outreach to Pyongyang.

Park is leading a delegation from President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol in Washington this week to coordinate Yoon’s U.S. policies, not only on North Korean affairs but also on the global supply chain and Covid-19 recovery.

Yoon, set to be inaugurated as president next month, has a foreign policy outlook that centers on the alliance with the United States and a hawkish stance on national security that emphasizes pre-emptive strike capacity against the North, as well as normalization of joint military exercises between Washington and Seoul.

Yoon also pledged on the campaign trail to re-activate the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group, created jointly by Washington and Seoul in 2016 to counter threats from North Korea, which could lead to deployment of U.S. strategic assets such as nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers to Seoul.

Park and the delegation were scheduled to visit the White House on Tuesday to give a letter from Yoon to President Joe Biden and to discuss details of an upcoming summit between the two leaders.

The delegation also met on Monday with Kurt Campbell, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council.

“The importance of trilateral cooperation between the United States, Korea and Japan was highlighted during the conversation,” Park said. “[Campbell] assured us that while the U.S. government is focusing on the Ukrainian crisis, it will not change the administration’s priority on the Indo-Pacific region.”

BY PARK HYUN-YOUNG, ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]