South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Kang Kyung-wha speaks during a press meeting in Washington on Thursday. Photo by Yonhap
South Korea’s top envoy to the United States pledged Tuesday to work closely with the U.S. to foster conditions needed for the resumption of diplomacy with North Korea, amid uncertainty over whether Pyongyang would accede to dialogue overtures.
New Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha, who served as Seoul’s foreign minister from 2017-2021, made the remarks during her first meeting with Korean correspondents since taking office last month.
“While closely communicating with the U.S. side, (we) will continue (efforts) to secure support for our policy toward North Korea,” she said.
“Together with the U.S., our government — as a peacemaker and a pacemaker — plans to continue efforts to enable conditions to become ripe for inter-Korean dialogue and dialogue between the North and the U.S.,” she added.
The ambassador used the terms — peacemaker and pacemaker — that President Lee Jae Myung used during his White House summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in August to underline his commitment to close cooperation with the U.S. for peace on the divided Korean Peninsula.
She noted that through the two summits between Lee and Trump, including the second in Korea last month, the two countries have agreed to cooperate closely for peace and stability on the peninsula, and concurred on the importance of communication with North Korea.
Pointing to the “complex” international circumstances marked by “many difficult challenges and uncertainties,” Kang said that she feels a “heavy sense of responsibility” to implement the Lee administration’s “pragmatic” diplomacy, which she said should be propped up by the “robust,” “future-oriented” alliance with the U.S.
“Within around five months since the launch of the Lee administration, South Korea and the U.S. successfully concluded the leaders’ reciprocal visits to each other’s countries,” she said.
“As a result, agreements on trade and security have been struck, and we now stand at a new starting point for the South Korea-U.S. alliance.”
She expressed her belief that the trust between Lee and Trump and their will for cooperation will serve as a crucial foundation for the development of the alliance.
“At this embassy, we all will make all-out efforts to ensure the hard-won outcomes at the frontline of diplomacy toward the U.S. will be implemented without a hitch,” she said.
Commenting on the two countries’ recently released joint fact sheet on bilateral trade and security agreements, Kang said that Seoul and Washington have achieved “unprecedented”, weighty outcomes.
The outcomes, codified in the document, include Seoul’s commitment to investing US$350 billion in the U.S. in return for Washington’s lowering of “reciprocal” tariffs on South Korean products to 15 percent from 25 percent, and the U.S.’ support for Seoul’s push to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Kang and her embassy plan to back up efforts to help the two countries proceed with those agreements as planned.
Regarding the submarine project, the embassy is said to believe that domestic procedural issues in the U.S. or potential disagreements within the Trump administration might not pose any serious hurdle given that the fact sheet clearly states the leaders’ will on the matter.
Speculation has lingered that Trump’s approval for South Korea’s submarine construction could trigger an internal debate over proliferation concerns and other issues.
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