Senior U.S. official praises Korea's growth at forum

Diplomacy

Published: 19 Apr. 2023, 18:07 Updated: 19 Apr. 2023, 18:13

Senior U.S. official praises Korea's growth at forum

Edgard Kagan, senior director of East Asia and Oceania of the National Security Council, speaks at a forum hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on Tuesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Korea's growth as a tech powerhouse has transformed its relationship with the United States, said Edgard Kagan, a senior director of the U.S. National Security Council on Tuesday.

"As someone who came back to working on Korean issues after more or less a 10-year hiatus, one of the things that was really extraordinary was realizing how much the ROK had become a technology powerhouse," Kagan told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on Tuesday, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Republic of Korea.

Speaking at the forum "70 Years of the U.S.-ROK Alliance: The Past and the Future," Kagan noted how quickly Korea grew from being one of the world's poorest countries after the Korean War to a leading global economy.

"The degree to which Korean companies are choosing to invest in the United States, work with U.S. partners, and American companies are investing in Korea is a reflection of the fact that there is a deep understanding in the in the business community about the fact that we are better together," Kagan said.

Kagan was the U.S. State Department's director of Korean Affairs in 2012 and served as deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs before being posted to Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai and New Delhi. He was appointed as the National Security Council's senior director of East Asia and Oceania in January 2021.

He also emphasized growing cooperation between the U.S., South Korea and Japan on a variety of issues, including North Korea.

"It has been truly remarkable how closely aligned we have been with the ROK under two different administrations, as well as with Japan on DPRK issues," he said, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its full name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Our goal is diplomacy with the DRPK. We believe that the challenges on the peninsula can only be resolved by direct diplomacy."

Alluding to the recent reconciliation between the leaders of Korea and Japan, Kagan welcomed "the great political courage" of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

"We believe it is very important for both sides to take all necessary steps to fully implement what has been agreed but also to go beyond the immediate agreement to restore the exchanges, restore the bilateral engagements and to look for ways in which they can strengthen their partnership."

Yoon met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo last month, marking the first visit by a Korean president to Japan in 12 years. The Yoon government has been taking steps to improve ties with Japan, such as proposing third-party compensation of Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor, a historical sore spot and long-time diplomatic irritant.

Also joining the forum on Tuesday were a group of experts including Victor Cha, senior vice president and Korea chair of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Allison Hooker, senior vice president of American Global Strategies and Chun Yung-woo, chairman of the Korean Peninsula Future Forum.

Panelists at the forum hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Many of the experts expressed concern about the potential for simultaneous security contingencies in the Taiwan Straits and on the Korean Peninsula.

"If we are in a situation where there is an all-out war in the Taiwan Straits, and North Korea does something, arguably that stretches U.S. capabilities enough so that they need to consider possibly lowering the threshold for nuclear use," said Cha. "Nobody wants that scenario."

South Korea's role in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine was also discussed.

"Korea's dilemma is that we have the largest stockpile of munitions among the pro-Western countries, and all NATO members know that," said Chun.

Chun pointed out that although South Korea has the stockpiles to effortlessly supply Ukraine with lethal weapons, Korean policymakers may fear the political repercussions from such a move.

"Russia will be angry at the ROK for actually supplying weapons that can be used against Russian troops," he said.

President Yoon hinted for the first time in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that Korea could provide military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The forum was organized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Korea Center and the Korean Association of International Studies to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the United States and Korea.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]