hankyoreh

Derek Chollet, the counselor of the US State Department, speaks to the Hankyoreh at the US Embassy in downtown Seoul on July 11. (Park Jong-shik/The Hankyoreh)

Derek Chollet, the counselor of the US State Department, underlined South Korea’s role as a “global pivotal state” during an exclusive interview with the Hankyoreh on Monday. It was clear from his remarks that the US hopes that cooperation between NATO and Asian countries such as Korea, as well as trilateral cooperation between Korea, the US, and Japan, will play an important role in tackling challenges on the global stage.

Chollet spoke of the potential of US-China cooperation on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear program, noting that China “has to play a role in ensuring the DPRK [North Korea] ceases its provocative acts.”

Chollet, who is a senior policy advisor at the US State Department, met with South Korean government officials while visiting Korea on Monday and Tuesday to discuss issues including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, strengthening the South Korea-US alliance, and bilateral cooperation on North Korea, China and Myanmar.

Derek Chollet: It was extremely important that the ROK [South Korean] president, President Yoon, came to Madrid for that historic meeting between NATO allies. The NATO partnership is just getting started, and I think it’s important that Korea opens an office in Brussels, at NATO, and finds ways that we can meet shared challenges together and create better interoperability among our militaries. We already have European countries participating in military exercises like RIMPAC [Rim of the Pacific]. So I think deepening the connections between our like-minded partners is very, very important, particularly as we are seeing so many challenges become truly global. For example, we’re seeing that the Ukraine crisis is truly a global issue. The principles at stake are principles that all countries should share: principles of state sovereignty, the idea that a larger neighbor cannot invade a smaller neighbor and try to force its will upon that neighbor, and the idea that states should have a right to defend themselves.

Derek Chollet, the counselor of the US State Department, speaks to the Hankyoreh at the US Embassy in downtown Seoul on July 11. (Park Jong-shik/The Hankyoreh)

Chollet: The United States and our partners are very concerned about the PRC’s [China’s] increasingly reckless and risky behavior in and around Taiwan. US policy towards Taiwan has not changed. The United States does not support Taiwan’s independence, and we believe in adhering to the “One China” policy and our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act. The United States does not seek a change in the status quo. We see China’s actions as changing that status quo or trying to change it, and that’s what we think is so dangerous. So that’s why it’s incumbent on all of us to continue to work together and send this clear message of our concerns and also set up guardrails in the relationship with the PRC to ensure that we can mitigate those risks as best as possible.

Chollet: The PRC has to play a role in ensuring the DPRK ceases its provocative acts. I think we have a common interest in not having a nuclear North Korea, and it’s something that the Secretary [Antony Blinken] and Chinese Foreign Minister [Wang Yi] had a conversation about in Bali. We’re very concerned about provocations from the DPRK, and we see that as creating greater risk for conflict, which none of us wants to see.

Chollet: Trilateral cooperation can not only address issues here on the Korean Peninsula but also ensure our shared security interests elsewhere in the world. The trilateral mechanism is very important, whether it’s through military exercises or other ways we can cooperate. I should underscore again that the United States is very supportive of the idea of the ROK becoming a more active player on the global stage and the idea of the ROK being a global pivotal state. The United States is very supportive of a stronger relationship between Japan and South Korea, and we respect that there are differences that have to be resolved between the ROK and Japan. As a close friend of both countries, we’ll do what we can to support and facilitate that. And I think the trilateral mechanism is one way we can do that, but we are also seeking other ways.

By Park Min-hee, editorial writer

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