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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at a meeting at the Airport Railroad Co.’s headquarters in Incheon on April 26. (pool photo)

A summit between South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden will take place on May 21, Yoon’s spokesperson Bae Hyun-jin announced Thursday. Biden’s trip to South Korea and Japan from May 20 to May 24 created the occasion for the summit, which will take place just 11 days after Yoon is inaugurated as South Korea’s next president.

Bae stated that Yoon “expected the meeting to be a timely one during which economic security, scientific and technological cooperation, and [other matters concerning] the South Korea-US alliance can be discussed while the threat of North Korean nuclear missiles and uncertainties regarding the global supply chain are intensifying.”

Earlier, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that Biden will be visiting South Korea and Japan, stating that the trip was meant to “advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s rock-solid commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and to US treaty alliances with the Republic of Korea and Japan.”

Psaki added that Yoon and Biden will “discuss opportunities to deepen [South Korea and the US’] vital security relationships, enhance economic ties, and expand our close cooperation to deliver practical results.”

Meanwhile, Bae stated “deep deliberation concerning a wide array of agendas such as the advancement of the South Korea-US alliance, cooperation concerning North Korea policies, along with economic security and major pending regional and international issues” will take place during the summit.

While the White House’s statement didn’t mention North Korea and its nuclear program, the statement from Yoon didn’t reference the Indo-Pacific — demonstrating the two sides’ respective interests in coming together for the summit.

During his summit with Yoon, Biden is expected to bring up reviewing and expanding the implementation of the joint statement that South Korea and the US reached in May 2021, in which they described the alliance as a “linchpin of stability and prosperity.”

The summit agenda is likely to include strengthening the alliance in the areas of semiconductors and other cutting-edge technology by encouraging Korean companies to make large-scale investments in the US. That would both counter China by stabilizing supply chains and help the American middle class as the November midterms approach.

Another big question is whether Yoon will officially announce South Korea’s participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEP), which Biden proposed last October. That dovetails with the question of whether Yoon will implement a “balanced diplomacy,” seeking to strengthen cooperation with the US while also avoiding fallout for Korea’s relationship with China, the country’s No. 1 trade partner.

Since this summit is being held shortly before Biden visits Tokyo to attend a summit of countries belonging to the Quad security bloc — the US, Japan, India and Australia — another item on the agenda could be Quad Plus, an initiative to strengthen ties in security cooperation between the Quad on the one hand and South Korea, the US and Japan on the other. But since Japan is fiercely opposed to Korea’s formal participation in the Quad, few think that Biden will ask Yoon to join the Quad.

Biden’s remarks about North Korea during his visit to the South are likely to be a weathervane for affairs on the Korean Peninsula and have a major impact on the behavior of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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