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Practical move or lost opportunity? Lawmakers, experts debate Lee's snub of NATO summit.

Published: 23 Jun. 2025, 20:14

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

Lawmakers from the opposition People Power Party denounce President Lee Jae Myung’s decision to skip the NATO summit during their press conference held at the National Assembly in western Seoul on June 23. [YONHAP]

Rival lawmakers and foreign policy experts were of mixed minds regarding President Lee Jae Myung’s decision to skip the NATO summit in The Hague this week.

On Monday, lawmakers from the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) said Lee erred by deciding not to attend the NATO summit, an opportunity to deal with the crisis flaring in the Middle East. The PPP lawmakers said Lee's absence might encourage Russia and China to perceive Korea as the weak link among U.S. allies.

PPP Rep. Kim Gunn wrote on his Facebook that NATO members and three partner countries — Japan, New Zealand and Australia — might suspect Korea of prioritizing China, Russia and North Korea because of Lee's decision.

Yet, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) defended Lee by saying his decision was made after considering the domestic political situation and the complicated conflict in the Middle East.

Rep. Kim Hyun-jung, a DP spokesperson, said the president is well aware of the importance of the Korea-U.S. alliance and pressing issues related to tariffs during a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul. Kim additionally asked, "Does running to the NATO summit solve [all these problems]?"

Parliamentary officials and foreign affairs experts pose for a photograph during a diplomacy forum hosted at the National Assembly in western Seoul on June 23. [NATIONAL ASSEMBLY]

Moon Chung-in, a chair professor at Yonsei University and former special adviser to former liberal President Moon Jae-in, said Lee’s decision was based on “pragmatic diplomacy with a sense of reality” at a parliamentary forum.

The National Assembly hosted the forum at its library in western Seoul to gather opinions and shape the direction of diplomacy with a panel of foreign affairs and North Korea experts, including Ha Young-sun and Yoon Young-kwan. The forum marked the second of its kind after its inaugural session in May.

Noting the possibility that U.S. President Donald Trump may not attend the NATO summit, Moon asked, “Was it likely Lee would have held a summit with Trump when there are 36 heads of state, including Asian leaders?” Moon said Lee's failure to hold a bilateral summit with Trump could pose a political risk to Lee, which the new administration would be unwilling to take.

Yoon, chairman of the Seoul-based think tank Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said he found the decision “regrettable.”

Referencing the recent nuclear plant deal with the Czech Republic and arms exports to Poland, Yoon noted that Lee could have used the summit to promote Korea’s competency in defense industries and understand NATO members' needs as potential buyers.

Yet, he said the presidential office appeared to have considered Trump potentially skipping the summit based on the widely known animosity between him and European NATO members.

Ha, chairman of the think tank East Asia Institute, said it was too early to gauge Lee's 'pragmatic diplomacy' based on his decision to skip the NATO summit. He said what matters is how Lee maximizes Korea’s national interests over the upcoming five years.

“Even if Trump skips the NATO summit, having talks and meetings with other world leaders would not negatively affect our national interests,” Ha said.

President Lee Jae Myung attends a meeting with senior secretaries at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on June 23. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

When it comes to potential talks with North Korea, the experts said the regime is unlikely to negotiate with the United States or South Korea, as their diplomatic standing has been strengthened in recent years.

According to Moon, North Korea no longer considers normalizing ties with the United States a diplomatic priority.

Moon said Pyongyang might have closely monitored talks between Washington and Tehran, as well as recent U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. He added that North might have learned that Washington has made no diplomatic breakthrough in the Russia-Ukraine war.

While the United States provided weaponry support to Ukraine, the North is believed to have sent around 10,000 soldiers to Russia, reportedly in exchange for military technology.

Moon said the North reached out to the South to approach the United States around 2019.

Ha said potential dialogue with the North remains “treacherous.” He said the Trump administration will likely demand the complete denuclearization of the North, something Pyongyang is unlikely to do.

“Unless South Korea, North Korea and the United States devise a new scheme, successful negotiations are less likely to happen,” Ha said, citing the “half-success in the Singapore Summit in 2018 and complete failure at the Hanoi Summit in 2019.”

Although Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during the Singapore Summit, their pledges were thwarted as the Hanoi Summit fell apart.

Yoon said Washington’s demands to Pyongyang — expected to be delivered when the Iran crisis is settled — would be lighter than before because North Korea now enjoys an elevated presence due to its military alliance with Russia.

“Even if the talks between the North and the United States happen, they would likely be rolled out in favor of the regime,” Yoon said.

The experts also said Washington and Beijing would likely use Seoul to further their interests in their ever-intensifying rivalry.

China might consider U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term as their optimal chance to embrace countries that were formerly friendly with the United States, as rules-based global governance and multilateralism are falling apart, according to Yoon.

“China is likely to continue so-called ‘smile diplomacy’ and make an emotional appeal to the Korean people if Chinese leader Xi Jinping attends the upcoming APEC summit in Gyeongju,” Yoon said.

Yoon also noted that the United States seems to have focused all its military power and resources on checking China. “A new rationale that views U.S. troops in South Korea as a force to contain China and South Korean troops as a force to deter the North has seemingly become an official strategy,” Yoon said.

Ha expected that the United States’ upcoming defense report would likely include means to contain China’s rise as a hegemonic power in the Indo-Pacific. He said relocations of U.S. troops from Korea appear inevitable.

Moon said South Korea could subtly give what Trump wants instead of naming a precise price in defense cost-sharing negotiations.

“The South Korean military can become the main force, and U.S. troops can play support roles by saying we will not be freeloaders,” Moon said, referencing Trump’s remarks that depicted Korea as a “free rider” of the U.S.-led security network.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]