Yoon, Biden come away from 48-second chat with different conclusions

Posted on : 2022-09-23 17:10 KST Modified on : 2022-09-23 17:10 KST
Issues of interest to Korea including the Inflation Reduction Act and a currency swap did not appear on the White House’s official readout of the two leaders’ talk
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to President Joe Biden of the US on Sept. 21 (local time) following a meeting of the Global Fund in New York. (presidential office pool photo)
President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks to President Joe Biden of the US on Sept. 21 (local time) following a meeting of the Global Fund in New York. (presidential office pool photo)

The summit that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was expected to hold with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly ultimately fell through.

The Korean presidential office had kindled hopes that the Inflation Reduction Act and other sensitive economic issues might be resolved through another summit in New York, following Yoon and Biden’s earlier summit in Seoul back in May. In the end, however, the two leaders’ meeting lasted a mere 48 seconds during a group reception for leaders and their spouses.

The presidential office put a brave spin on events by saying that “the length of the meeting isn’t the important thing,” but the lack of any tangible results leaves Yoon wide open to criticism for coming home empty-handed.

“National security councils in both countries had been ordered to carry out a detailed review of the issues of the Inflation Reduction Act, a currency swap and extended deterrence. The meeting today was a chance to confirm a summary of those preliminary reviews,” a senior official in the presidential office explained in the Foreign Press Center in New York in the early hours of Thursday.

While Yoon wasn’t able to hold the summit with Biden that he’d announced earlier as part of his political schedule, the two leaders did meet during a reception hosted by King Charles III in London on Monday and then two more times during the Global Fund’s Seventh Replenishment Conference on Wednesday and the couples’ reception. According to the official, that was a significant opportunity to “confirm” and “approve” the agenda items that had been adequately discussed by working-level officials from the two countries.

“The original goal was to hold a summit if possible, but we were able to activate plan B instead,” the official said.

The presidential office said that when Yoon had asked for close cooperation to ease Korean concerns about the US government’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden suggested continuing serious deliberations between the two sides.

“The two leaders’ explicit expression of their willingness to cooperate represents progress,” said Choi Sang-mok, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs.

But a statement released by the White House following Yoon and Biden’s meeting struck a different note. After relating that the two leaders had “reaffirmed their commitment” to strengthen the alliance and respond to North Korea, the meeting readout said that “the Presidents also discussed our ongoing cooperation on a broad range of priority issues including supply chain resilience, critical technologies, economic and energy security, global health, and climate change.”

In short, the readout said nothing about Yoon and Biden discussing the Inflation Reduction Act or a Korea-US currency swap, the issues of greatest interest to Korea.

In connection with this, Yoon’s 48-second chat with Biden required backing out of planned appearances at a Korea-US startup summit and a K-brand exposition and leaving his minister of SMEs and startups to read prepared remarks in his place at the truncated events.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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