Tillerson says he wasn’t invited to dinner while visiting South Korea

Posted on : 2017-03-20 17:29 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
US Secretary of State had official dinners while in both Japan and China during three-country East Asia tour
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after a joint press conference at the Central Government Complex in Seoul
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shakes hands with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after a joint press conference at the Central Government Complex in Seoul

There’s an ongoing debate about why South Korea was the only country in which US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not have dinner with high-ranking officials during his tour of Japan, South Korea and China. While Tillerson is accused of having discriminated against South Korea by having dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Mar. 16 and with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi on Mar. 18 but not with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Mar. 17. Tillerson claimed that he did not receive a dinner invitation from South Korea.

“They [South Korea] never invited us for dinner,” Tillerson said on Mar. 18 during an interview with Erin McPike, a reporter from right-leaning news website the Independent Journal Review who was the only reporter allowed to accompany Tillerson on his trip to Northeast Asia. “Then at the last minute they realized that optically it wasn’t playing very well in public for them, so they put out a statement that we didn’t have dinner because I was tired.”

“I had dinner last night,” Tillerson said. “The host country decides whether we are going to do things or not. We didn’t decide that.”

“[South Korea and the US] worked together closely to arrange the schedule. In regard to the dinner, it appears that there may have been some miscommunication. I think that, if necessary, there will be an appropriate explanation in the future,” said an official with South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Mar. 19.

On Mar. 17, a Foreign Ministry official said that South Korea had proposed a dinner but that this should not be taken to mean that the US had rejected that proposal.

During a visit by a senior official from a major country, it’s typical for the host country to arrange a dinner or some other event. Considering the Foreign Ministry’s remarks about the possibility of miscommunication, it does not appear that the South Korean government failed to invite Tillerson to dinner. It remains to be seen whether the US will provide an explanation.

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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

 

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