“DEMONSTRATION OF US SUPPORT”
“Given this renewed cooperation between North Korea and Russia, South Korea understandably wants a demonstration of US support and a reaffirmed US commitment to uphold UN sanctions, and this visit is designed to do that,” Benjamin A. Engel, a professor at Seoul National University, told AFP.
The G7 also slammed Pyongyang’s arms transfers to Russia, saying Wednesday that they violated UN Security Council resolutions.
The Kremlin said last month there was “no proof” North Korea was sending it weapons.
Blinken’s visit will be followed by a trip by US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, as Seoul and Washington ramp up their own defence cooperation.
Last month, a US nuclear-weapons-capable B-52 bomber made a rare landing in South Korea, less than a week after a South Korean port visit by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Blinken’s trip is “further evidence” of a strengthened bilateral alliance, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University, who also pointed to Seoul’s growing cooperation with Japan.
“Washington and Seoul are not only coordinating bilaterally on North Korea, they are preparing a trilateral response with Tokyo to Pyongyang’s next provocation,” Easley told AFP.
Seoul, a major arms exporter, is also expected to come under pressure from Washington to do more to help Ukraine, with the South standing by a longstanding policy barring it from selling weapons into active conflict zones.
“As conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine reverberate around the world, upgraded alliance cooperation must be increasingly global in scope,” said Easley.
Source: CNA
