Category: Politics-US

The Biden administration has vowed to strengthen alliances with America’s allies and one way to do that with South Korea is quickly sign a cost sharing agreement:

The election of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would mean a stronger alliance with South Korea and other allies, but tensions with North Korea could escalate because Pyongyang could try to test his administration, experts said Saturday.

“I think if Biden is elected, most American allies, including South Korea, will breathe a sigh of relief. He is likely to work much harder to strengthen our alliances,” said Gregg Brazinsky, professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University.

One of Biden’s key foreign policy advisers, Brian McKeon, said the Democratic candidate would immediately seek to repair the country’s alliances and reaffirm the United States’ commitment to improving its relations with its allies.

“(Biden) frequently says when he takes office, he will immediately get on the phone with some of our key allies in Europe and Asia, and centrally say, ‘America is back, and we have your back’,” McKeon said in a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.  (………..)

Brazinsky noted a Biden administration would likely treat U.S. allies with more respect.

“The U.S. will have severe economic difficulties due to the (COVID-19) pandemic, and it is possible that even under Biden, the U.S. will need South Korea to share more of the costs of maintaining American troops,” he told Yonhap.

“But I think if this is the case, Biden will attempt to negotiate this change in a manner that treats South Korea with the appropriate respect,” he added. (………………)

Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington-based Institute for the National Interest, said that Biden would likely seek to quickly conclude the negotiations and at a much lower rate of increase.

“I would argue that a Biden Administration would quickly sign a new SMA with Seoul within the first 100 days of taking office, as Biden will not want to drag on talks any longer and likely ask for a 3-5 percent increase per year for a multiyear period,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think Seoul would be willing to give the Biden administration a small increase because it would allow Biden to say he got the ROK to pay more when Trump could not.

Here is what the experts think a Biden administration means to U.S. diplomacy in Korea:

Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president could give South Korea more “room” in handling inter-Korean affairs, as he is expected to respect the alliance and listen more to what Seoul has to say on inter-Korean matters, experts said Sunday.

His “principled” diplomacy on North Korea, however, could raise tensions and fail to produce any immediate breakthrough in denuclearization talks, which experts said could make it hard for Seoul to pursue many of its envisioned cooperative and reconciliatory cross-border projects.

Biden has vowed to strengthen the alliance with its allies, including South Korea, in what appears aimed at differentiating himself from President Donald Trump, who has often derided friends and allies and denounced them as free riders.

“Respecting the alliance means turning his ears to the ally’s opinions on issues such as inter-Korean affairs, which has rarely been seen under the Trump administration,” Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.

“If South Korea says it wants to improve inter-Korean relations, Biden will listen to it. He could also take a more flexible approach in applying sanctions on the North than the Trump administration attempting to keep cross-border relations in check through sanctions,” he added. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised that if a few months into the Biden administration that the Kim regime will provoke a provocation cycle to see what Biden does. I believe they will probably not do anything decisive and just manage the problem like the Obama administration did.

Trump tried to do something decisive on the issue, but it just didn’t work because he didn’t understand that the Kim regime had no intention of denuclearizing.

Today is the big day for the U.S. election:

Koreans with voting rights in the U.S. head to the polls today to cast their ballots in what is considered one of the messiest, most contentious and controversial presidential elections in U.S. history. 

As unpredictable as this election night is expected to be, it is unclear whether Koreans, as a whole, will choose the Democratic or Republican ticket.

”I’ve never struggled this much to make up my mind on who to vote,” said Park Dong-hwan, 56, who owns a laundry business in the suburbs of Seattle. After acquiring U.S. citizenship, this is his third time voting in the U.S. presidential election. 

”I’ve always been a Republican, but I didn’t want to vote for Trump. I really didn’t,” said Park, who still ended up voting for the Republican candidate via mail-in ballot. ”That was my biggest struggle.”

Same goes for Democratic supporter Ji Choi, 34, who is yet to decide which way her vote will go.

”I fundamentally support Democratic policies, but the presidential and vice presidential candidates seem to be much farther left than what I’d like,” she said, adding that she may end up not voting at all. (……..)

”Many of the older Koreans like me, who run a small business, vote for Trump not because we love him as an individual. We’re making the decision based on the Republican party’s economic policies,” said Park Jin-moo, 63, who recently participated in a ”Koreans for Trump” rally held in Los Angeles.

Law enforcement is another issue older Koreans are focusing on. 

”We can’t have riots run loose, but a Biden administration will likely lead to weaker law enforcement, which in turn leaves small business vulnerable to looting,” said Park.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I can definitely understand why a Korean-American with a small business would vote for Trump considering how many of them have had their businesses destroyed or impacted negatively by recent policies from their local governments.

Here we go again with the nuclear-free pipe dream; can anyone explain a good rationale of why Kim Jong-un should give up his nuclear weapons?:

 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday he would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un only on the condition that the latter agrees to reduce his country’s nuclear capabilities.

“On the condition that (Kim) would agree that he would be drawing down his nuclear capacity. To get that,” Biden said when asked on what preconditions that he would agree to meet the North Korean leader.

“The Korean Peninsula should be a nuclear-free zone,” he added while speaking in the second and last presidential TV debate with his Republican rival, President Donald Trump.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is where South Korea is going to fit in during the Presidential campaign:

Democratic Party has accused President Donald Trump of “extorting” South Korea by pressuring the Asian ally to pay more to keep American soldiers stationed on the Korean peninsula. The allegation was written in the Democratic Party’s election platform, and marks the opening salvo in the 2020 U.S. presidential race. South Korea now finds itself caught in the middle of the political slugfest.
Sam Len reports. 

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but notice that the Democratic response does not offer how much South Korea should be paying.

If you haven’t heard this yet, the state of Maryland bought $9 million in test kits and used the National Guard to defend the cargo shipment from being taken by the federal government:

Maryland authorities were so concerned about the federal government seizing a shipment of COVID-19 tests destined for the state that they made special arrangements to receive and guard the tests until they could be distributed, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said Thursday.

Hogan cited the fate of 3 million N95 masks purchased by the state of Massachusetts — all of which were confiscated in March by the federal government at the port of New York — as the main reason for taking extra precautions to secure his state’s order of 500,000 COVID-19 testing kits from South Korea.

ABC News

You can read more at the link, but the governor’s wife is a Korean-American who helped facilitate the purchase.

It will be interesting to see how this race turns out next year after narrowing losing in 2018:

When newly elected members of Congress traveled to Washington for freshman orientation in late November, Young Kim, 56, flew from her Orange County home to join them. Not all of the ballots in California’s 39th Congressional District were counted, but Ms. Kim believed her narrow lead was solid. After shaking hands with other members at white-tablecloth lunches, she posed for her official portrait and a group photo of all new members. Ms. Kim was expected to be one of two Republican women of color and the first Korean-American woman in Congress.

Several days into her rookie duties in late November, with all of the 244,393 ballots in the district counted, the race was officially called: She lost the election. Gil Cisneros, her Democratic opponent and a former Republican who ran on preserving Obamacare, captured 51.6 percent of the vote. Ms. Kim would not be a member of the 116th Congress.

Less than six months later, Ms. Kim announced she would try again. Now, the rematch between Ms. Kim and Mr. Cisneros will test how blue the 2018 wave in Orange County really was. Republicans hope that after the narrow loss, they can reclaim the district and two others in the county, which encompasses the birthplace of Richard Nixon and has long been a bastion for conservatives.

“This district is not as far left as many political pundits in Washington would like people to believe,” Ms. Kim said in an interview. Soon after the loss, Ms. Kim began discussing the possibility of running again with her husband, who is also active in local politics, and their four adult children. It was almost a given that she would try again. “Winners don’t quit,” she said. “That’s why I got back in — we know we can.”

New York Times

You can read more at the link.