Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at this week’s South Korea-U.S. summit, a 72-hour cease-fire in Sudan, and violence against gang members in Haiti.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at this week’s South Korea-U.S. summit, a 72-hour cease-fire in Sudan, and violence against gang members in Haiti.
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Residents of Washington, D.C., may see convoys waving the South Korean flag and driving along the city’s streets this week. That’s because South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol came to town Monday for a six-day trip to celebrate his country’s 70th year of bilateral relations with the United States and discuss the two allies’ future relationship. Topics will include security and defense; the war in Ukraine; supply chains; high-tech development, such as chip manufacturing; space cooperation; and business ties. Already, Netflix executives agreed to spend $2.5 billion on South Korean film and TV projects over the next four years.
Yoon and his wife will accompany U.S. President Joe Biden to visit the Korean War Memorial on Tuesday, followed on Wednesday by bilateral meetings between the two leaders as well as a formal black-tie state dinner at the White House. Yoon will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday and then have lunch with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This will be the first time a South Korean leader has conducted a state visit in the United States in nearly 12 years.
One of the main issues on the table is the U.S. commitment to providing “extended deterrence,” or the use of U.S. military assets, including nuclear weapons, to protect South Korea and avert a possible attack from a rapidly weaponizing North Korea. In January, Yoon suggested that his country may have to consider developing its own nuclear weapons arsenal if Pyongyang’s nuclear threat grows. He has since walked back those comments, but domestic support for a nuclear-armed South Korea remains strong, argues former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz in Foreign Policy. Biden plans to use the summit to announce new nuclear deterrence measures to aid South Korea, including a cyber security initiative, economic investments, and an educational partnership, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, in an effort to demonstrate Washington’s “ironclad” support of Seoul.
There are likely to be some uncomfortable discussions during the summit as well. Leaked U.S. classified intelligence documents revealed Washington had been spying on sensitive conversations happening inside the South Korean presidential office about U.S. pressure on Seoul to help arm Ukraine. Despite his country being a major global producer of artillery shells and tanks, Yoon has thus far declined to provide arms to Kyiv, citing South Korean rules that prohibit selling arms to countries at war. Seoul also fears that supporting Ukraine militarily could provoke Russia into giving North Korea advanced military technology in retaliation. Instead, South Korea has sent arms to the United States and Poland to backfill their supplies as they arm Ukraine.
However, ahead of his meetings in Washington, Yoon signaled he’d consider granting military support to Ukraine if Russia’s large-scale attacks on civilians continue, FP’s Robbie Gramer reports. “The possible shift would be welcomed with open arms in Washington,” Gramer writes. “But it could also come with a cost, putting South Korea in both Beijing’s and Moscow’s crosshairs.”
• America Has Dictated Its Economic Peace Terms to China by Adam Tooze
• A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance by Joseph W. Sullivan
• What Happens When a Turkish President Loses an Election? No One Knows. by Reuben Silverman
Biden’s next four years. In a move that shocked no one, Biden announced his 2024 campaign for a second presidential term on Tuesday. Since taking office two years ago, Biden’s foreign-policy report card has achieved mixed grades. According to the Pew Research Center, 43 percent of Americans approved of the administration’s handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in January, compared to 34 percent who disapproved. Washington has pledged more than $75 billion in humanitarian, financial, and military aid to Kyiv since the war began.
But a botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, inconsistent human rights record, and recent classified intelligence leak have critics worried. The Biden administration’s approach to democracy abroad has been “clumsy and self-defeating,” argued FP columnist Emma Ashford.
Elusive peace. Sudanese officials announced a 72-hour cease-fire late Monday, yet another attempt to achieve a break in fighting since violence erupted between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15. According to Blinken, the temporary reprieve was agreed to after 48 hours of “intense negotiation.” Washington plans to help establish a committee to oversee discussions on a permanent end to the fighting.
Yet reports suggest the cease-fire may not be holding, with journalists and eyewitnesses on the ground noting ongoing clashes. The World Health Organization on Tuesday also warned of a “huge biological risk” after fighters in Khartoum seized control of the country’s National Public Health Laboratory, which houses dangerous biological materials, including samples of polio, cholera, and measles. Meanwhile, millions of Sudanese remain trapped in the capital while foreign governments rush to evacuate their embassy workers and humanitarian staffers before it’s too late.
Vigilante justice. Haitians are taking the fight against gang violence into their own hands, with horrific results. A mob in the capital of Port-au-Prince beat and burned 13 suspected gang members to death on Monday after pulling them from police custody at a traffic stop. The Haitian National Police has referred to the attack as a lynching.
The country was plunged into chaos when then-President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021 and is now on the brink of state failure, argued Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarapé Institute think tank. Criminal gangs are thought to control as much as 90 percent of the capital, and there are no democratically elected officials left in the government.
From raging sandstorms in China to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, combatting climate change has taken a central role in foreign-policy decisions. But diplomatic skirmishes have often hindered progress, such as China halting climate negotiations after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. “The proof will be in the pudding,” U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told FP Live. “It doesn’t come from a meeting. It’s not going to come from saying we’re going to talk. It’s going to come from an actual understanding about what has to be done together.”
To hear more about foreign policy’s climate future from prominent global leaders, activists, and experts, register here to attend FP’s Climate Summit on Wednesday, April 26, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST.
Belgium is trying to change public perception—of seagulls. The coastal town of De Panne hosted its third annual seagull imitation screeching contest on Sunday. Contestants are judged on how well they imitate the beach birds’ signature squawk as well as their behavior. “We thought why not get more sympathy for those seagulls because they are part of the coast. There is no coast without seagulls,” Jan Seys, president of the jury, told Reuters.
The post South Korea’s Yoon Visits Washington for Deterrence Reassurance appeared first on Foreign Policy.
