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The creditors are coming

Published: 28 Oct. 2025, 00:01

Song Ho-keun

The author is a columnist of the JoongAng Ilbo and a chair professor and director of Doheon Academy, Hallym University.

When the Soviet bloc collapsed 35 years ago, Immanuel Wallerstein, author of “The Modern World-System” (1974), declared it “the end of the world as we know it.” He predicted that global power would reorganize into three poles — the United States, Europe and Northeast Asia — and that liberal ideology would decline. Francis Fukuyama countered that history had ended in the triumph of liberal democracy and market capitalism. Both were wrong. The world has split into two hegemonies, led by the United States and China, and the age of free trade and liberal democracy has sunk into crisis. Few foresaw that the clash between two powers could so easily dismantle the postwar global order that had supported decades of prosperity. In that sense, Wallerstein’s “end of the world we knew” was right.

U.S. President Donald Trump waves from his official vehicle as he heads to attend the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit after arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Oct. 26. [AP/YONHAP]

Now, as if to confirm that prophecy, the two emperors of this fractured world are coming to an ancient Korean capital. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a gathering of nations that account for 49 percent of global trade and 61 percent of the world’s GDP. APEC was founded on free trade across the Pacific Rim, but when Trump turned toward protectionism, China responded with high tariffs of its own. The rest of APEC, fearing tariff retaliation, bent low. The era of friendly global trade embodied in FTAs has closed.

Both leaders have carefully coordinated their visits, signaling mutual awareness but also tension. Their words will determine the fate of the global economy. APEC members, once committed to open markets, now scramble to devise ways to appease these new heads of state.

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping [JOONGANG ILBO]

As the two leaders arrive in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, they will first confront the massive burial mounds that rise like small hills. Trump may gape at them and ask, “What are those?” Told that they are royal tombs of the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C. to A.D. 935), he would likely smile, imagining them as fitting monuments for absolute rulers.

Xi, on the other hand, will find them modest compared with the mausoleum of Emperor Qin in his hometown of Xi’an, where an underground army of terra-cotta warriors represents the ethnic diversity of ancient China. Yet both may overlook the most important lesson of Gyeongju: Among Korea’s Three Kingdoms, Silla — the weakest — achieved unification. History shows that a smaller power can overturn the order set by great empires, much as China did against the unipolar dominance of the United States.

Goguryeo (37 B.C. to A.D. 668), the mightiest of the three kingdoms, exhausted itself defending the borders against northern tribes. Baekje (18 B.C. to A.D. 660), after adopting the culture of the Southern Dynasties, grew powerful but fell from repeated wars with Goguryeo. Silla, the weakest, allied with China’s Tang Dynasty, using connections and diplomacy to compensate for its size. It pursued openness, recruiting talent and absorbing culture from abroad. After conquering the Gaya confederacy (42-532), it embraced Gaya’s ironmaking skills and promoted Gen. Kim Yu-shin, who was of Gaya descent. The elite Hwarang youth trained with both spiritual devotion and military purpose, embodying a fusion of Buddhist and Confucian ideals. In Gyeongju, remnants of this legacy — the spirit of inclusion and synthesis — still stand.

That is the lesson for today’s leaders. APEC’s vision of “a sustainable tomorrow” cannot survive in a world defined by monopolized technology and weaponized resources. Tariffs sever the very networks that enable innovation, crushing the aspirations of smaller nations. Trump, who derides protesters chanting “No Kings in America,” has broadcast insults through social media, betraying the democratic restraint his office once symbolized. From him, no reconciliation akin to Wonhyo’s Buddhist “philosophy of harmony” which reconciled sectarian divisions under one truth, should be expected.

With preparations for the 2025 APEC Summit underway, the Hwabaek Convention Center and International Media Center in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, which will host the summit, are seen on Oct. 8 after completion of interior and exterior finishing work. [NEWS1]

What, then, can Korea do? The room for maneuver is narrow, almost nonexistent. Even as host, Korea can hardly influence the direction of this turbulent order. President Lee Jae Myung is scheduled to meet Trump in Busan for a dinner summit on Wednesday. The agenda reportedly involves a $350 billion “tribute” — an eight-year installment payment of $15 billion or $25 billion a year. If true, it means 50 million Koreans would pay roughly $7,000 each to 350 million Americans. Just days ago, Canada incurred a 10 percent tariff penalty for political reasons. This is not the United States we once knew.

While the political class in Seoul remains busy with audits and housing debates, a far larger issue looms. The self-proclaimed creditor is coming, and Korea, caught between two empires, must find a way to settle its debt without losing its sovereignty.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.