The foreign policy activities implemented by the South Korean president often evoke a mixture of irony and tender feelings in this author, and Moon’s trip to Europe – the highlight of which was his presence at the G7 summit as a guest of honor – is a good indicator of the level of work performed by South Korea’s foreign ministry.
Back on June 8, speaking at a meeting held by the cabinet of ministers, Moon Jae-in said that the G7 summit would increase the role South Korea plays in resolving transnational problems, and would also “become an important stage in the history of Korea’s foreign policy.” “The invitation to the summit means that the international prestige enjoyed by South Korea has risen to a level comparable with that of the G7 member states,” said Moon Jae-in, promising to seize the opportunity to bolster Seoul’s role in addressing global challenges as a “bridge” between developing and developed countries. The possibility that a South Korean-American-Japanese summit would take place was not ruled out, despite the fact that on June 7, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan noted that – although “almost anything is possible” in the bounds of certain events with a limited number of participants – Joe Biden is not planning a trilateral meeting.
And from June 11-13, 2021, the South Korean leader took part in the G7 summit that was held in Great Britain. Besides Korea, the leaders of Australia, India, and the Republic of South Africa were present at the summit as guests.
During the summit, Moon held bilateral meetings with the leaders of the UK, Australia, France, Germany, and the European Union. In addition, even though on June 12 South Korean media had reported that “Moon Jae-in met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden”, in reality that meant exchanging greetings and a brief conversation shortly before the start of the summit’s expanded session. That did not stop Moon from calling this brief meeting “a precious event that could constitute a new start in relations between South Korea and Japan” on social media.
What did Moon talk about at the G-7 summit? He unveiled plans to help low-income countries procure COVID-19 vaccines, and stressed that “an early expansion of vaccine supply is the most necessary short-term prescription to ensure equitable access to vaccines.” From the author’s point of view, these “bold assertions” were on par with making a statement that the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea.
Moon Jae-in explained that Seoul is planning to offer $100 million in grants for its COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) in 2021, and another $100 million in cash or product deliveries in 2022.
COVAX is a funding mechanism designed to make COVID-19 vaccines available at a reasonable cost to over 90 relatively low-income, developing countries.
From June 13-15, President Moon Jae-in made a state visit to Austria, becoming the first South Korean leader to visit the country since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides in 1892. The parties “agreed to continue cooperation to aim for synergy between Austria’s science and technology achievements and South Korea’s cutting-edge business sector,” including working together on a clean net-zero carbon concept. Regarding the Korean Peace Process, the Austrian president reaffirmed his country’s continued support for Seoul’s campaign to bring peace to the peninsula.
Then a visit to Spain ensued, which lasted from June 15-17. There, Moon Jae-in took part in a state dinner with King Felipe VI of Spain. Following the visit, Seoul and Madrid called their relationship a strategic partnership, and agreed to develop cooperation in the areas of the low-carbon economy, digital innovations, and joint access to third-party countries. Specifically, South Korea expects to expand the scope of mutual investments in the renewable energy market, and is ready to offer Europe electric vehicles, vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel, and battery technologies. It was reported that on his trip to Spain Moon Jae-in was accompanied by representatives from large companies such as LG Energy Solutions, GS Energy, Samsung Engineering, and Hanwha Solutions.
And the most important! During a visit to Madrid City Hall the city’s mayor, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, presented the South Korean president with a golden key. Moon Jae-in expressed confidence that the key would bring good fortune to South Korea and the Korean Peninsula.
In addition, on June 17 at the Library of the Spanish Senate, Moon was shown a “Map of the Kingdom of Joseon” which, according to South Korean media outlets, shows that the Dokdo islets are part of Korean territory. However, the “place names in the map were marked with Chinese pronunciation, and Dokdo is written as ‘Tchian Chan Tao’ apparently because Dokdo’s name at the time, Usando, was confused with Cheonsando.”
And finally, on June 15 Moon Jae-in held a virtual meeting with Franz-Werner Haas, the director of the German biotechnology group CureVac. Moon asked for stronger cooperation efforts on vaccines between his country and the company, which is known for its own efforts to produce vaccines based on so-called messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Moon noted that South Korea, which has a strong biohealth sector, is trying to become a global hub for the manufacture of vaccines.
If one were to follow the official press releases, the South Korea’s president “beamed” everywhere and “impressed everyone.” However, when leaving out the emotional appeals and ceremonial statements, the results become more ambivalent. First, by his presence at the summit Moon once again emphasized whose strategic ally he was. After all, the statement given by G7 leaders had much more of an anti-Chinese orientation than the well-rounded wording expressed during the summits between the US and South Korean presidents – and Moon, as can be seen, did not express any differing opinions about this matter.
It is worth remembering that the key themes for the G7 summit in the UK from Friday to Sunday were: China’s growth, the denuclearization of North Korea, COVID-19, and climate change. First, the leaders of the United States of America and Great Britain came out with a new Atlantic Charter (and it was not by accident that they copied the name used eighty years ago), promising to defend democracy in an effort to put up opposition to China and Russia. And then, on June 13, the G7 countries adopted a joint statement calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, using the wording CVID (complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization, plus having North Korea abandon its programs in areas involving weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles), and welcomed Washington’s commitment to diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang. North Korea was urged to resume dialogue with the international community, while demanding that it respect human rights and swiftly address the issue of how it abducts foreign citizens.
An appeal was pronounced to strictly comply with UN Security Council resolutions aimed at denuclearizing North Korea: everyone perceived that last item as a hint to China “which is trying to evade sanctions by supporting Pyongyang.”
As for the other aspects involved in containing China, the members of the Group of Seven opposed ramping up the tension in the East China Sea and South China Sea (which arose due to China’s One Belt, One Road initiative), and called on Beijing to respect human rights in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, allow Hong Kong more autonomy, help stabilize the Taiwan Strait, and cooperate with an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
Ultimately, the heads of state agreed to create a new global partnership to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative by launching a Build Back Better World (B3W) project in response to fund infrastructure programs and support growth in developing countries. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that “this was a significant step forward from where the G7 has ever been before, and reflects a growing rapprochement that did not exist a few years ago.
Unsurprisingly, some South Korean media outlets noted that Moon’s invitation to the “G7 + 4” summit not only signals a rise in South Korea’s prestige in the international community, but also hints at growing US pressure on Seoul to join the global coalition against China. “This could be a major problem for Seoul, which is heavily dependent on Beijing for its economic growth. The time has come for the government to sagely deal with a potential situation in which it may be forced to choose a side.”
Second, the anticipated thaw in relations with Japan, which many in Seoul had counted on, did not occur. The meeting between the South Korean president and the Japanese prime minister did not take place. The Japanese side has taken a principled position: let Seoul take a step back first, and only then everything else will follow.
Third, the much-hyped vaccine meeting turned out to be one about a vaccine that has the worst performance indicators. CVnCoV, from CureVac, has an efficacy indicator of only 47%. This drug is unlikely to receive approval, due to regulations requiring more than 50 percent effectiveness. Of course, in the absence of other topics to help its PR, Moon is trying to bring “everything and more” into the country, and also advertises South Korea as a potential center for the production of any type of vaccine. However, to what extent the production facilities in Korea can cope with tasks that are this complex is not an easy issue.
Fourth, as is customary, the protocol service “got egg on its face.” First, they used the German national flag when uploading news about President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Austria: this is a serious diplomatic error. Then, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who posed in the far left corner, was removed from the group photo taken of the heads of state, so that Moon ended up in the center of the composition.
However, over the past few years the Blue House has repeatedly committed these kinds of errors. Only just recently, a video for the opening ceremony of the Seoul Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals (P4G) 2030 summit even showed a picture of Pyongyang instead of Seoul (). They say that this political issue is being investigated by the country’s intelligence services.
So let’s see what real fruits the visit will yield, what projects will turn into reality, and how Pyongyang and Beijing will react.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of the Far East at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.