A top US official urged Japan and South Korea to follow through with commitments to repair strained ties while saying the Biden administration should resist the urge to become more involved in diplomacy between two key allies.
(Bloomberg) — A top US official urged Japan and South Korea to follow through with commitments to repair strained ties while saying the Biden administration should resist the urge to become more involved in diplomacy between two key allies.
“The hardest thing for us is to restrain ourselves from getting more involved,” Edgard Kagan, National Security Council senior director, said Tuesday. “It’s very important for both sides to take all necessary steps to fully implement what has been agreed.”
Stable relations between Japan and South Korea are a pillar of US efforts to reduce China’s influence in Northeast Asia and reorient global supply chains more in favor of American interests. The Biden administration was supportive of the two countries’ move at a rare summit in Tokyo last month to end a long-simmering dispute that had hurt security and trade ties.
Speaking at a Woodrow Wilson Center forum in Washington, Kagan said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol displayed “tremendous political courage” in meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and that their deal would help advance interests shared with the US.
While Kishida saw a boost in public approval after the summit, popularity ratings for Yoon slipped, highlighting the risk of getting closer to a neighbor that colonized the Korean peninsula for decades in the early 20th century.
North Korea is likely to feature prominently when Yoon travels to Washington to meet President Joe Biden next week. Washington remains committed to diplomacy with North Korea even though the Kim Jong Un regime continues to ignore a US push for dialog, Kagan said.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.