President Donald Trump is alienating South Korea at precisely the wrong time.
President Donald Trump upset South Korea at precisely the wrong time.
Trump shocked the longstanding U. S. ally and trading partner in an interview with Reuters last Thursday with two unexpected announcements: He wants Seoul to pay for a missile defense system the United States is deploying there, and he wants to renegotiate the existing free trade agreement between the two countries.
The comments came against a high-stakes backdrop: Tensions are rising around North Korea ‘s nuclear threat, and South Korea is on the cusp of a presidential vote on Tuesday — with a lot at stake not just for South Korea but also for the shape of its future alignment with the United States.
“In terms of South Korea’s diplomatic politics, this came at a very bad time, ” said Scott Snyder, director of the program on U. S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It creates an opportunity for [the missile defense] issue to be even further politicized in South Korea in ways that will not serve U. S. or South Korean interests.”
“I don’t think Trump did this intentionally, but [he] exposed a gap that may be widened, ” Snyder said. It “may be an opportunity for North Korea to exploit.”
The White House did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The crack in the U. S. relationship with South Korea reduces the pressure on North Korea to denuclearize, just as China — which has the most leverage on Pyongyang — was just beginning to grudgingly step up economic constraints on the state. Chinese authorities suspended coal imports from North Korea in February.
Meanwhile, the Chinese have retaliated against South Korean companies to punish Seoul for allowing the U. S. to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the region.
“One of the reasons we tried to quickly finish THAAD deployment [is] because we believe the U. S.-South Korea relationship was a firm alliance, ” said Hyun-Wook Kim, professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul, a school for South Korean diplomats. “But then Trump… gives me some internal debate about what to do with China and the U. S.”
If U. S. strategy against Kim Jong Un ‘s North Korea is to squeeze the little connection Kim’s isolated country has with the rest of the world, that may be more difficult now: South Korea looks more open to working with the dictatorship, especially after Trump’s comments.
