On July 17, 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol returned home after completing an eight-day overseas trip that took him to Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea attended the NATO summit in Vilnius, where he “stressed Seoul’s commitment to deepening cooperation with the military alliance through a new special partnership program and the ROK’s participation in the military information sharing system with NATO member states.” Yoon Suk-yeol next traveled to Warsaw, where he discussed deepening strategic partnership in various fields with the country’s leadership. Finally, the ROK president prolonged his foreign vacation by two days by paying an unannounced visit to Ukraine, where he met with President Zelensky to discuss humanitarian help and post-war rehabilitation.
Amid NATO-ROK rapprochement and pressure on Seoul to supply arms and ammunition to Ukraine, Vilnius Kiev or Warsaw could have been venues for formal statements regarding Seoul’s policy shift toward Russia, but they were not. For the rest, let’s get into more detail.
The head of the Republic of Korea participated in the NATO summit as an observer for the second year in a row. The Republic of Korea is not a member of NATO, but it was invited to the summit as a NATO partner country, along with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The presidents of the four Asia-Pacific countries attended the NATO summit in Madrid in 2022 for the first time, and the so-called AP4 (South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand) conference was chaired by the ROK president. There, South Korea’s president emphasized the importance of a strong collective security framework involving members of the North Atlantic Alliance and the AP4 countries.
Yoon’s actions and remarks in Vilnius boiled down to a few key points.
- Increasing the strength of the ROK-NATO alliance ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Seoul on July 11. As a result of the meeting, the parties adopted a partnership program consisting of 11 documents – Individually Adapted Partnership Programs. Military intelligence, cyber security, nuclear proliferation, dialogue and consultation to promote mutual understanding on common security threats, the defense industry, counter-terrorism, interoperability, collaboration on climate change, and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, quantum technologies, and so on are all examples of cooperation.
The partnership includes establishing a consultative body to strengthen counterterrorism capabilities between South Korea and NATO and facilitating South Korea’s participation in NATO counterterrorism exercises and working groups.
Yoon Suk-yeol stated on July 12 that South Korea will boost military information sharing with NATO and will contribute to a NATO trust fund to assist Ukraine. Yoon did not specify how military information would be shared with the North Atlantic Alliance, but a presidential spokesman said Yoon was referring to NATO’s Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System (BICES), which helps member nations share military secrets and determine next steps based on that information.
- A lengthy discussion on the Ukrainian issue, which dominated the summit: how to “restore peace and rebuild Ukraine in its war against Russia.” As a result, practically every communiqué issued following Yoon’s meeting with someone included a sentence like “the parties discussed the war in Ukraine and agreed on the importance of continued cooperation to restore peace in the country as soon as possible.” During his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Yoon “reaffirmed South Korea’s unwavering support for Ukraine in its war against Russia,” while Stoltenberg “thanked the South Korean government for its assistance to the Ukrainian people.”
However, the only substantially new comment was the previously reported participation in a NATO Trust Fund “to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience.” Yoon also stated that South Korea is delivering demining equipment, ambulances, and other humanitarian supplies to Ukraine and that the country “will continue to support the people of Ukraine until their freedom is fully restored.”
- Condemning North Korea (DPRK) In a meeting with NATO Secretary General, President Yoon Suk-yeol emphasized that “the international community should send a firm message in response to North Korea’s illegal nuclear and missile provocations, and asked for NATO’s continued support.” Stoltenberg also mentioned the DPRK’s nuclear missile programs, which affect all NATO partners and make unity based on “order and international rules” necessary and important. In addition, he “reiterated his position that he supports the South Korean government’s efforts to fully denuclearize North Korea and establish sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
In the July 11 Vilnius Summit communiqué, NATO members called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs through complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. All of this is a ritual incantation because Pyongyang will not engage in any dialogue on this topic.
Yoon stated on July 12, just hours after North Korea fired another ICBM, that “North Korea’s nuclear missiles constitute a real threat that can strike not only Vilnius but also Paris, Berlin, and London… We must unite more tenaciously, denounce, and answer with one voice.”
Yoon emphasized the importance of a unified international response to North Korea’s escalating nuclear and missile threats, but some specifics emerged only from talks with Norway, whose prime minister said Oslo would use its experience as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2021-22 and chair of the UN sanctions committee on North Korea to work closely with South Korea and fulfill its international obligations.
- Yoon attended a marathon of bilateral meetings during which he discussed the concerns mentioned above but largely acted as a salesperson and advocated for the World Expo 2030 Busan. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with the leaders of Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden on July 11, and Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, and Finland on July 12.
- During the talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, they discussed the North Korean nuclear issue, cooperation in renewable energy, and the defense industry. Yoon expressed gratitude to Norway for sending a medical unit to South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War, and stated that he hoped to expand collaboration. His counterpart replied that Norway wishes to aggressively work in the fields of carbon capture technology, hydrogen energy, and offshore wind energy, in addition to finding methods to broaden collaboration in the military industry, where South Korea enjoys a competitive edge.
- The two sides agreed to develop and strengthen collaboration in the semiconductor industry to stabilize the global supply chain during their meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The two sides expressed satisfaction with the strengthening of bilateral cooperation, highlighting the successful co-hosting of the first summit on Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Military Systems (REAIM) in February, and agreed to collaborate closely to achieve concrete results at the second REAIM summit, which will be held in South Korea next year.
- Yoon Suk-yeol met with Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, who indicated a desire to deepen collaboration in the semiconductor and digital industries. Yoon responded that he would provide support.
- Yoon Suk-yeol said during a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis that he expects the two nations’ collaboration to grow beyond automobile and steel production to include nuclear energy, infrastructure development, and defense. He emphasized the recent selection of a South Korean company to install equipment at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, as well as the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the port corporations of the two countries on the development of Constanta, the largest black seaport. Yoon encouraged Iohannis to pay special attention to and aid South Korean enterprises in Romania, and Iohannis responded that his government would do so.
- In the first bilateral summit in five years, Yoon Suk-yeol and New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins discussed ways to promote cooperation between key partners in the Indo-Pacific region and countries that share the universal values of freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
- Separately, we note Yoon’s meeting with a politician as unsystematic to the West as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Orbán stated at the meeting that he was well aware of South Korean enterprises’ commitment to Hungary’s economic rejuvenation in 2022, that bilateral commerce hit a record 7 billion US dollars, and that he was committed to actively promoting South Korean firms. He also voiced hope for collaboration with South Korea in R&D and the defense industry, as well as stronger connections through student exchanges.
- Yoon Suk-yeol formally informed Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda of Seoul’s decision to open an embassy in Vilnius. Note that Lithuania opened its embassy in Seoul in 2021.
- While highlighting the expanding collaboration on weaponry, Yoon and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas concurred that their two nations’ cooperation in digital and cybersecurity has been substantial.
- In a meeting with Zuzana Čaputová, President of Slovakia, Yoon requested her to pay attention and encourage the efficient running of South Korean businesses in her nation. Čaputová expressed her desire for more South Korean businesses to invest in Slovakia, particularly in the area of batteries for electric vehicles, and she pledged to support them in maintaining a successful business.
- Yoon and Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland, came to an agreement to increase bilateral collaboration in areas such as startup support, radioactive waste management, and 6G network development.
The fourth meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk-yeol of the ROK, which took place on July 12, held a special place. The main topic of the half-hour conversation was the situation around the water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The safety and health of the people living in the two nations were the main concerns of the South Korean leader’s implementation of the plan, and he urged his counterpart to make sure that South Korean experts were involved in the process of monitoring the planning and execution of the water discharge, exchange information in real time, and immediately halt the water discharge if the concentration of radioactive substances was exceeded. Fumio Kishida responded by reiterating that Tokyo would not discharge water whose quality might have an adverse effect on the environment, citing a recent IAEA report that found Tokyo’s plan to be compliant with international standards, and promising to stop the discharge right away if the concentration of radioactive substances in the water exceeded permissible levels. Although there was no direct response to the call to share data with the ROK in real time.
Overall, the tour was successful, although Yoon has faced criticism at home for delaying his departure during a tropical storm that produced floods that resulted in the loss of life and property.
To understand the situation, consider that since July 9, there have been more than 500 millimeters of rain in the country’s central and southern regions. Thousands of people have been relocated around the nation, and at least 37 people have died so far. Trains passing through the country’s central region have been suspended by the Korean Railway Corporation.
Of course, it can’t be said that the president stayed out of the issue. Yoon has been in constant contact with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, asking him to “mobilize all assets of the military, police and government to minimize the damage.” However, as a DP representative put it, “In a situation of disaster where dams overflow, mountains collapse, roads are severed and people are buried or losing their lives due to heavy rain across the country, the president, who should have canceled his schedule and returned immediately, extended his official visit.”
The reports of the Lithuanian media, which were denied by the Office of the President that during the massive floods in Korea, Kim Keon-hee took a “shopping tour” of Vilnius, visited a number of luxury boutiques and bought a lot of goods, also added fuel to the fire. The president’s administration, of course, said Kim went into the boutique on the recommendation of one of the boutique’s employees when she was returning from an event, but didn’t buy anything. However, Yoon’s critics “know the truth” and the success of the visit was literally scuttled.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of China and Modern Asia at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
