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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to President Joe Biden of the US on Sept. 21 (local time) following a meeting for the Global Fund in New York. (Yonhap)

The results of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s summit diplomacy with Japan and the US, which was prompted by his attendance at the UN General Assembly, can only be described with the word “disaster.”

No summit between South Korea and the US took place. After much controversy, the leaders of South Korea and Japan met for the first time in two years and nine months on Wednesday, but the Japanese government called the occasion a “discussion” rather than a “meeting.”

No progress has been made on major pending issues like the issue of discrimination against Korean-made electric vehicles caused by the US’ Inflation Reduction Act, or the issue of compensations for victims of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period. What has resulted is a far cry from the “readily agreed-upon summit” or the “grand bargain” the presidential office promoted far ahead of Yoon’s trip. The display of diplomatic incompetence lacking in everything from process to form and substance must have been mortifying for the Korean public.

A 48-second chat and a group reception were the extent of Yoon’s meeting with US President Joe Biden. The presidential office took great pains to explain what happened, stating, “Both sides directed their national security councils to deeply examine the Inflation Reduction Act, currency swaps, and extended deterrence. Preliminary considerations were condensed, and today was the occasion to confirm them.”

This only attests to the fact that no progress has been made during conversations between the two leaders aside from working-level talks. The White House’s announcement following the chat mentioned neither the Inflation Reduction Act nor currency swaps, the biggest pending issues in South Korea currently.

The whole situation serves to confirm the Yoon administration’s ignorance of and complacency regarding the situation in the US despite its emphasis on pro-US diplomacy.

Yoon did meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for roughly 30 minutes. The South Korean presidential office called this meeting an “informal summit” where the leaders of South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their shared belief in the need to improve their countries’ relations and respond to North Korea’s nuclear program together. Meanwhile, the Japanese government used the term “discussion.”

After Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the National Security Office, announced on Sept. 15 that “a South Korea-Japan summit was agreed upon early on and is currently being scheduled,” the Japanese side pushed back fiercely, making it seem as if South Korea was begging Japan for a summit it had announced in advance. In the end, Yoon personally went to the building housing the Japanese mission to the UN, and the South Korean media was not alerted to his meeting with Kishida. The Yoon administration’s impatience to prove itself different from the Moon administration and quickly normalize South Korea-Japan relations administration through outcomes resulted in a controversy over its “degrading diplomacy.”

It’s hard not to question what the Yoon administration’s diplomatic strategy and vision are. If the administration cannot come up with strategies to navigate the turning point the international order currently faces and demonstrate its ability to put those strategies into action, freedom- and values-based solidarities as touted by Yoon at the UN General Assembly will become meaningless.

The Yoon administration should ask whether it is trapped in the mindset that any problem can be solved by strengthening South Korea’s ties with the US and Japan without having deeply thought about South Korea’s national interest. Incomprehensible incidents took place as well, as the Yoon administration lacked even the basics of diplomacy. After stirring controversy about “missing” Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, Yoon was caught on a hot mic making choice remarks as he was leaving the conference hall where he met Biden.

Kim Sung-han and Kim Tae-hyo of the National Security Office will have to shoulder responsibility for the total diplomatic disaster. Yoon will not only have to completely reshuffle his diplomatic and security aides but also change himself.

If Yoon does not change his attitude towards diplomacy and state government, South Korea will be driven to a cliff during a period of global upheaval.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]