And with the President now in Washington, D.C. for the NATO summit, the focus is on South Korea’s role in, not just regional security, but also global security beyond the Peninsula.
Our senior correspondent Oh Soo-young takes a closer look.
Crossing over from Hawaii to D.C., South Korea is connecting security interests across the Indo-Pacific region and Transatlantic countries, as a practical contributor to global security.
That’s according to an expert speaking to Arirang News as President Yoon Suk Yeol heads to discussions with NATO countries in Washington, D.C., after wrapping up his visit to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
President Yoon’s stopover in Hawaii demonstrated Seoul’s firm alliance with Washington, a pivotal moment in its commitment to freedom, peace, and stability in the Indo-Pacific – and beyond.”
Seoul’s assertive posture matters as European states look to work more closely with Indo-Pacific countries given their overlapping interests in countering coercive forces in international waters, and the growing collaboration between Russia and North Korea.
Seoul’s Presidential Office says NATO, and its four Indo-Pacific partners including South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will issue various statements criticizing the Moscow-Pyongyang axis.
“The significance of South Korea’s participation in NATO summit is that it is a reflection of how security issues in European theater and in the Pacific region are closely interlinked. Russia could continue sustain its war efforts in Ukraine because China is supporting Russia’s economy. China is basically funding Russia’s war efforts. So Europeans, they want to dissuade China from doing that. But now North Korea is providing ammunition to support Russia. So there is a closer link between security issues in the two theaters. And South Korea is in a critical position to manage the security efforts linking between the like-minded countries.”
Since last year’s NATO Summit in Vilnius, South Korea and the 32-member bloc have been focusing on institutionalizing cooperation on battlefield information, military intelligence sharing, and cyber security.
Based on solidarity with like-minded countries, President Yoon’s office said South Korea would seek to expand its realm of security cooperation to economic and technological partnerships.
“South Korea’s military industry has been advancing at the global level. So there is an opportunity that South Korea can provide support other countries’ weapons system, their defense equipment capacity. So that’s one thing defense industry-leading supporting other countries defense capacity.”
While in D.C., Yoon will hold a marathon of bilateral summits with at least ten countries, including Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the UK, with conversations expected to cover defense industry cooperation, infrastructure, supply chains, nuclear energy, and other significant security interests.
Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are also expected to meet in their second summit of the year, deepening their growing partnership against regional security threats as part of their trilateral cooperation with the United States.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News, Honolulu.
Source : Arirang TV, https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=273120
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