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The Korea Times

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7. Yoon Byung-se

Trilateral Camp David summit and its historical implications

The trilateral Camp David summit slated for Friday will go down as a new chapter in the history of Northeast Asia for symbolic and substantive reasons. This is the first time that the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan are gathering for a standalone trilateral summit and not on the sidelines of multilateral summits like in the past. Remarkably, it is taking place just three months after their most recent meeting at the Hiroshima G7 Summit, and will be the fourth since President Yoon Suk Yeol's inauguration in May last year.

2023-08-17 15:29

Korea should lead by example

Last week, the Yoon Suk Yeol government released its first-ever National Security Strategy (NSS) with the subheading “Global Pivotal State (GPS) for Freedom, Peace and Prosperity.”

2023-06-15 16:30

Revitalization of Korean diplomacy under President Yoon

Last week marked the first anniversary of President Yoon Suk Yeol's presidency. It is no surprise that the most favorable approval ratings came from his performance in foreign policy and security related matters. He himself highlighted major achievements made in these areas in a recent cabinet meeting.

2023-05-18 16:41

President Yoon's bold diplomacy for the future

President Yoon Suk Yeol has just completed his milestone visit to Japan. Fierce debates are underway about the resulting balance sheet. Each has its own yardstick. I asked my imaginary ChatGPT about the key themes: 12 years, normalization, future cooperation, new era/chapter, past history and mutual trust were some words that popped up on my screen.

2023-03-19 20:42

Will President Yoon follow in de Gaulle's nuclear footsteps?

Just two years ago, a very unusual report was released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) titled, “Preventing Nuclear Proliferation and Reassuring America's Allies.” It was a product of a special task force comprised of 16 former top policymakers - prime ministers, foreign and defense ministers including myself, national security advisers as well as a former NATO commander and heads of global think tanks (IISS, MSC, FRS and CCGA).

2023-02-16 17:00

Democracy in retreat and Korea's timely co-hosting of 2023 Democracy Summit

Quo vadis, democracy? In August, then U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) Michelle Bachelet revealed a grim picture of the current state of democracy in her speech titled, “Crisis and fragility of democracy in the world.”

2022-12-15 16:00

Korea faces triple challenges in decisive yet dangerous decade

Whether by coincidence or not, three major powers - The U.S., China, and Russia - speak with one voice on one thing despite the ongoing tensions and competition. That is, the coming ten years will be a “decisive decade” for the international order. President Joe Biden used this term in his 2022 National Security Strategy Report.

2022-11-17 17:08

Agenda for humanity in high season of diplomacy

To many top policymakers around the world, the remainder of this year will be a most hectic time. It is the high season of diplomacy - both regionally and globally. This year, it will be more so than ever, due to the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions and economic security issues, energy and food crises, the pandemic, the U.S.-China competition, the climate crisis and the nuclear threat - to say the least.

2022-09-08 15:09

ROK-US alliance well on track, but real tests yet to come

Three months into the presidency, the Yoon Suk-yeol government is in full swing with its foreign and security policy agendas, in contrast to the turbulent domestic political situation.

2022-08-11 17:00

Global pivotal state vision and Korea's new multilateral diplomacy

”The attendance of the South Korean president at the NATO summit for the first time has historical significance at the NATO level,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during his meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol in Madrid last week.

2022-07-07 16:25

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