Yoon Suk-yeol Says He Would Cooperate More Closely With the Quad If Elected President
The Chinese are not going to be happy with Yoon’s foreign policy platform:
Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of the main opposition conservative People Power Party (PPP), vowed, Monday, to “rebuild” Korea’s alliance with the U.S. to deal more effectively with both North Korea’s nuclear threats and other regional security and economic cooperation issues.
Korea Times
He also said he would expand South Korea’s role in U.S.-led multilateral initiatives, including the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue, widely known as the “Quad.”
“I would focus on bolstering a comprehensive and strategic alliance with the United States based on the shared values and principles of freedom, democracy, the market economy, constitutionalism and human rights,” Yoon said during a press conference on his diplomacy and security policy pledges at party headquarters in Seoul.
“I will pursue open cooperation to expand common interests with related countries in the region by participating in working groups for vaccines, climate change and new technology under the Quad, a partnership between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India.”
You can read more at the link, but Yoon is not planning on joining the quad formerly. He also says he is willing to provide full economic support to North Korea if they denuclearize which we all know isn’t happening.
Whomever is elected, we hope they do what is in the best interests of the South Korean people, “avoiding foreign entanglements”. We do know, however, that Russia, China, and the USA will try to add them as a satellite. Looking to history might be a good starting point; but politics is never linear.
Another reminder of why this guy needs not to be voted in. The QUAD is a QUACK, it’s a useless toothless organization that means nothing. Basically, it’s there to serve US foreign interests against the interests of the countries in the group, nothing more. You can join this group, but it won’t stop the US from giving you the big fat bill of $5 billion a year for US troop support, and $1 billion a year for THAAD which is also useless (the Yemeni rebel attack on UAE facilities a couple of weeks ago proves this). Mark my words, the US won’t do crap, if China sanctions South Korea again and hurt South Korea’s economy because of this guy’s running mouth. In this day in age, everyone is looking out for themselves, there are no true allies anymore.
Remember in November 1950 Korea was unified, then commie china stepped in and kept it divided. Why Korea interacts with commie china is beyond me.
This is 2022, not 1950. Korea interacts with China, just like the US interacts with China. The US wants others to stop interacting with China so that the US companies can take other’s places. Just like the US companies took over businesses that were lost by Korean companies in China during the THAAD row. One good example: Apple colluded with China to kick out Samsung phones from China – all documented and outed on news. Look at Australia when they lost business in China because they side with the US. The US companies just took over what the Australians lost in China. The US will keep on using the past to better their own economic interests. Now they’re talking about sanctioning Russia. That’s a big chunk of Korea’s trade, preventing doing business with Russia, damaging Korea’s good relations with Russia so that the US companies can benefit at the expense of Korea. If the US wants the rest of the world to join them, then they should put their actions where their mouth is – stop completely doing business with China and Russia, then maybe the others will follow.
If South Korea joins the Quad, goes against China, and China economically hurts South Korea, what will the US do?
Would the US stick up for South Korea and start sanctioning China even harder, as punishment for China bullying South Korea? I doubt that they will. Rather, the US will probably try to take advantage of South Korea’s vulnerable situation by trying to squeeze Korea with higher tariffs and higher annual bills to station US troops and missiles. That’s exactly what happened during the THAAD crisis. Remember, the US has nothing to lose with China since China will never dare to sanction the US. On the other hand, South Korea’s 25% of entire exports go to China, and South Korea’s economy totally depends on trade. Without trade, South Korea will not survive. This is not the case with the US, so it’s easier for them to tell other countries to fall in line with them, order them what to do, and approve/disapprove the countries that they are allowed to trade with. This is at a time when the US relations with most of the world except for a few countries in the West, are strained and full of conflict.
@Korean Man, first of all THAAD did work and successfully defended the UAE from a ballistic missile attack that could have been catastrophic if it hit someplace like the oil refinery the drones attacked. If you are wondering why THAAD did not shoot down a drone it is because it is not designed to shoot down a drone. You need a different system for that which why the US military is rolling out equipment was lasers on them specifically designed to shoot down drones.
As far as your $1 billion for THAAD that is untrue. Trump had demanded that and South Korea never paid it. THAAD is being provided as part of the current defense agreement with the ROK. I do find it interesting that you are complaining about contributing to the US-ROK alliance when sanctions by China have cost far more to the ROK economy than the upkeep cost each year have.
@Korean Man, the article clearly said that Yoon would not join the Quad, but instead coordinate more closely with them by being an observer at meetings for example. You definitely have Trump trapped in your brain the way you keep referring back to Trump era policies that ended never even happening. The Biden administration has shown no indications of making the increased USFK upkeep demands that Trump made, that once again were never implemented.