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Wu Dawei

Following a meeting between the top diplomats from the US and China about issues on the Korean peninsula, including a sanctions resolution against North Korea that is under discussion at the UN Security Council, senior diplomats from the two countries are set to visit South Korea.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel will be in South Korea on Feb. 26 and 27, while Chair of the Six-Party Talks and China’s Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei will visit on Feb. 28.

Russel and Wu’s consecutive visits appear to be prompted by the meeting of the US Secretary of State and China’s Foreign Minister, which culminated in a commitment to swiftly wrap up the sanctions phase and discuss ways to resume dialogue after sanctions end as well as in a consensus on the need for maintaining stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The visits suggest that the US and China are competing with each other in “persuasive diplomacy” with the South Korean government, which has held to a hardline stance toward North Korea’s nuclear test and rocket launch.

“On the afternoon of Feb. 26, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel will be paying a courtesy call to 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lim Sung-nam and having a conference with Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Kim Hong-kyun. These are meetings that the US and South Korea have been discussing for some time, and the visit is part of Russel‘s tour of the region,” said South Korean Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Cho Joon-hyuk on the afternoon of Feb. 25.

Though Cho said that Russel’s visit to South Korea had been already planned, there are indications that the visit was hurriedly arranged after the meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Russel‘s trip to the Asia-Pacific region, as announced by the US State Department on Feb. 18, was limited to the Pacific island nations of Samoa, Tonga and Palau and was supposed to last from Feb. 20 and 25, with South Korea not being part of the original itinerary.

Russel’s visit to South Korea appears to have resulted from a decision at the US government that it needs to inform the South Korean government about the outcome of the Feb. 23 meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and to adjust plans about the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), an anti-ballistic missile system.

On Thursday evening, the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced that Wu Dawei will visit South Korea on the afternoon of Feb. 28 for dinner and a discussion with Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook. Wu and Hwang are China and South Korea‘s chief envoys to the Six-Party Talks.

“Wu and Hwang will share their opinions about the overall situation on the Korean Peninsula, about the problem of North Korea and its nuclear program and about the response from the international community, including the UN Security Council resolution,” South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained.

Wu’s visit to South Korea is thought to have been prompted by the Chinese government’s realization that it will have to keep persuading the South Korean government about the need to combine sanctions with dialogue and negotiations after the adoption of a sanctions resolution by the UN Security Council. Another contributing factor appears to be China‘s urgent need to prevent any armed clashes from occurring on the Korean Peninsula during the Key Resolve US-ROK joint military exercises, which are scheduled to begin on Mar. 7.

“Both sides feel that we need to monitor the situation on the peninsula very closely in the coming two months,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry after their meeting on Feb. 23. “In particular, we must prevent the situation on the peninsula from spinning out of control.”

In related news, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, Commander of US Forces Korea, said on Feb. 24 that he means to push for the deployment of THAAD on the Korean Peninsula. In a hearing before the US House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Scaparrotti said that the first meeting of the US and South Korean joint task force would be held within a week.

This stands in contrast with remarks made on the previous day by Secretary Kerry that hinted at the possibility of adjusting the timing of these deliberations.

This could be because the Pentagon wants to deploy THAAD as part of its strategy for Northeast Asia, while the US State Department puts the priority on cooperating with China in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue.

By Lee Je-hun, staff reporter, Park Byong-su, senior staff writer and Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

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