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South Korean President to Meet Biden at White House

Grace Moon

   SEOUL - South Korean President Moon Jae-in on May 21 will be the second
   world leader to meet face-to-face with U.S. President Joe Biden at the
   White House, marking what may be his final visit to the United States
   and last chance to fulfill campaign pledges before his term ends.

   The discussions between the two leaders arrive just a few weeks after
   the Biden administration finalized its monthlong review of North Korea
   policy, one that signals a departure from previous administrations by
   pursuing a "calibrated, practical approach," said White House press
   secretary Jen Psaki.

   This shift in rhetoric -- one that strays from Obama-era strategic
   patience while refraining from making flashy deals -- has yielded a
   "sense of calm" as Moon and Biden prepare to engage in talks, said Jean
   Lee, director of the Korea program at the Wilson Center in Washington,
   D.C.

   "When you use that rhetoric, that fire and fury, it gives North Korea
   the justification to test, and when they have that, it means the
   arsenal gets that much stronger," Lee said. "The steadiness being
   exuded consistently by the Biden administration is designed to avoid
   this escalation of tensions we saw in the early parts of the Trump
   presidency."

   Moon welcomed this open-ended approach in a nationally televised speech
   marking his four-year anniversary on Monday.
   FILE - This handout photo taken and released by the presidential Blue
   House on May 10, 2021 shows South Korean President Moon Jae-in
   delivering a special address during a press conference marking the 4th
   anniversary of his inauguration.

   Issuing a call to action to restore inter-Korean dialogue at the
   upcoming summit, he vowed to do everything he could to "restart the
   clock of peace."

   "I will consider the remaining one year of my term to be the last
   opportunity to move from an incomplete peace toward one that is
   irreversible," Moon said.

   North Korea is expected to be near the top of the meeting agenda. But
   while the two leaders have mutually vowed to work toward the ultimate
   goal of achieving a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,
   experts say Biden's incremental approach may potentially frustrate
   Moon, who has less than a year in office to follow through with his
   promised goals of securing a peace regime.

   Despite these slight variances in timelines though, upholding the
   alliance between the U.S. and Republic of Korea will unwaveringly
   remain the top priority, said Kim Heung-kyu, who teaches political
   science at Ajou University and is the director of the China Policy
   Institute.

   Lee echoed these observations, adding that North Korea will be closely
   watching the summit and that the joint meeting will "send a signal to
   the North that Moon has Biden's ear, which is a position of strength
   that Moon is keen to establish."

   The Moon-Biden summit will mark Biden's second in-person meeting since
   he took office in January.
   FILE - Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe
   Biden hold a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White
   House in Washington, April 16, 2021.

   The first was also with an Asian leader, Japanese Prime Minister
   Yoshihide Suga, which serves as a strong indicator of the Biden
   administration's broader commitment to forging peace and security
   across the Indo-Pacific region, bolstering the U.S.-ROK-Japan
   trilateral security alliance, and preparing to strike back at China's
   growing influence.

   Some of Washington's larger agenda items may have South Korea walking
   on a tightrope, though, and will heavily depend on "to what extent
   South Korea decides to participate," said Park Won-gon, who teaches
   North Korea studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
   FILE - A protester sits next to a statue symbolizing a wartime sex
   slave to demand full compensation and an apology for wartime sex slaves
   near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 8, 2021.

   "With Korea-Japan relations still deadlocked, Biden is trying to make
   headway with the trilateral alliance before granting Korea and Japan
   space to find common ground on policies," Park added.

   When it comes to China, Moon and Biden will likely home in on its
   ability to directly sway North Korea's policy.

   Kim said that "in this sense, the two administrations will hope that
   China helps complete the picture instead of complicating it by
   conveying to North Korea messages that instill a positive influence on
   the regime."

   Apart from getting North Korea to join the negotiating table, experts
   project vaccine shortage issues may also be a topic of discussion Moon
   may want to push for.
   FILE - South Korean senior citizens receive their first dose of the
   Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination
   center in Seoul, South Korea, Apr. 1, 2021. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool via
   Reuters)

   The heated issue has in part caused his approval ratings to nosedive in
   recent months and starkly contrasts with South Korea's acclaim as a
   pandemic-era paragon for its rigorous test-and-trace program.

   This upcoming summit's success, unlike that of conventional summits,
   might be determined by whether Moon manages to procure faster access to
   vaccines, a South Korean official told Reuters.

   The summit may also open up a conversation on how South Korea and the
   U.S. can partner in the near future to play a role in global vaccine
   development and distribution.

   But in the meantime, the more immediate challenge for Biden and Moon
   involves reaching a mutual decision on engaging North Korea while
   ensuring their timelines align.

   "The challenge for Moon and Biden during this summit will be managing
   their differences behind closed doors while presenting a united front
   so that North Korea can't drive a wedge between them," said Lee.

   Juhyun Lee contributed to this report.