hankyoreh

Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy national security advisor, gives a briefing on the 40-minute phone call President Yoon Suk-yeol had with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Aug. 4. (Yoon Woon-sik/The Hankyoreh)

During a phone call with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during her stay in South Korea on Thursday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said he would “collaborate closely with the US Congress in order to advance the global comprehensive strategic alliance” between South Korea and the US. Yoon also called Pelosi’s visit to the Panmunjom Joint Security Area (JSA) a “sign of South Korea and the US’ powerful deterrence against North Korea.”

Pelosi’s visit to South Korea drew interest as it took place immediately after her trip to Taiwan, which was met with fierce opposition from China and cemented her “anti-China” stance.

Kim Tae-hyo, the first deputy director of South Korea’s National Security Office, gave an overview of the phone conversation between Yoon and Pelosi during a briefing at the South Korean presidential office in Yongsan. As Yoon is currently on summer vacation, he talked to Pelosi over the phone instead of in person from his personal residence in Seoul’s Seocho District for 40 minutes starting at 2:30 pm.

During the phone call, Pelosi stressed that the South Korea-US alliance must be preserved from a moral standpoint, and that the promise of peace and prosperity that has been protected through countless sacrifices spanning decades must be kept and cultivated, just as the unveiling ceremony for the Wall of Remembrance for Korean War veterans took place recently in Washington, DC. She also added that South Korea and the US should work together to cultivate a free and open Indo-Pacific order.

The South Korean presidential office stated that sensitive topics such as progress made during Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, the issue of human rights in China, and the issue of “Chip 4,” a US-led semiconductor supply chain partnership among South Korea, the US, Japan, and Taiwan, were not discussed during the phone call. Still, Pelosi reportedly mentioned the “comfort women” resolution that passed at the US House of Representatives, stating that the “comfort women” issue is ultimately a pending humanitarian issue and that she hopes South Korea and Japan may overcome painful memories from the past and come to a reconciliation.

Before the phone call, National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo met with Pelosi at the National Assembly building. In a joint statement released afterward, the two lawmakers stated that “both sides expressed their concern over the stern situation in which North Korea keeps escalating its threats,” announcing that they decided to “support efforts made by governments of both countries for the establishment of actual denuclearization and peace through international cooperation and diplomatic dialogue based on the powerful and expanded deterrence against North Korea, which can be felt by the South Korean public.”

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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