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President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea escorts retired Army Col. Ralph Puckett across the stage at a luncheon celebrating the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-US alliance held at a hotel in Washington on April 25. (Yoon Woon-sik/The Hankyoreh)

President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea was hit with demands from the US on national security and economic issues shortly before his summit with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Wednesday.

A US government official said Monday that aid for Ukraine will be on the summit agenda. One day prior, the foreign press reported that the US has asked the South Korean government to keep Korean companies from profiting if US chipmakers are sanctioned by the Chinese government.

There are concerns that Yoon’s preoccupation with strengthening the US’ “extended deterrence” in response to the North Korean nuclear issue could leave Korea with a heavier security and economic burden.

“I’m not going to get into the private conversations that they will have about Ukraine. Obviously, Ukraine is going to be an important topic of conversation,” US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday when asked whether the possibility of Korea providing lethal aid to Ukraine would be discussed during the summit.

“The President will thank President Yoon for the US$230 million in non-lethal assistance they have given, the support on sanctions and export controls. And then they will have a chance to talk about the military situation on the ground there,” Sullivan went on to say.

When asked a similar question during a meeting with the foreign press club at the Pentagon, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the US National Security Council, said the matter was something for Korea to decide. Kirby apparently didn’t rule out the possibility that artillery shells or other forms of lethal aid for Ukraine could be discussed off the record at the summit.

“Under the current circumstances, it would be impossible to discuss global issues without mentioning the issue of Ukraine. The two leaders could certainly talk about their respective positions on the situation of the war in Ukraine. At the present moment, it would be normal for any national leader to do so,” a high-ranking official at Korea’s presidential office told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

As for whether military aid to Ukraine would be on the summit agenda, the official said, “not for now.” By adding the qualifier “for now,” the official declined to rule out that possibility.

Any mention of military aid to Ukraine in the summit would be awkward for Yoon and his office, which faced intense scrutiny both at home and abroad after Yoon mentioned the possibility of military aid in an interview with Reuters on April 19.

“If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support,” Yoon said during the interview.

But since the US government is frantic to arrange more aid for Ukraine, it has been hammering the Korean government on this issue prior to Yoon and Biden’s summit.

The US borrowed 500,000 rounds of Korea’s 155mm shells in February. It has also announced that it will send a number of Abrams main battle tanks to Germany in a few weeks and train Ukrainian soldiers on how to operate them.

The US has also reportedly been pushing Korea harder behind the scenes in the semiconductor sector.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the US government has asked Seoul to keep Korean companies from taking business lost by Micron Technology, an American manufacturer of memory semiconductors, if it’s sanctioned by the Chinese government. That amounts to an unreasonable request for Korean chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to not approach the Chinese about business opportunities created by the US and China’s conflict over chips.

When asked about the matter, Kirby said he wasn’t in a position to verify the report. But as for whether the Biden administration will ask Korea to join future initiatives aimed at restricting investment in China, the American official said that was something for the Korean government to decide.

Kirby said the summit agenda would obviously include ways for the two countries to strengthen their trade relationship and build a flexible supply chain for semiconductors and other sectors. When presented with Kirby’s remarks in Washington on Tuesday, the senior official from the presidential office declined to comment, citing a lack of specific information.

Korea’s opposition Democratic Party called on Yoon and the presidential office to pursue the national interest more directly.

“We must never compromise on the national interest in the name of a delusional ‘values coalition’ or factional attitudes better suited for the Cold War,” said Oh Yeong-hwan, floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party, in a statement.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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