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Yoon Suk Yeol delivered an emotional speech in English to both houses of the US Congress, for which he received standing ovations as he honored the Korean War veterans who “helped preserve democracy” in their country, and took advantage of the 70th anniversary of that conflagration to highlight the importance of a security alliance to deal with rising tensions with North Korea.
Kim Jong-Un’s regime has carried out a record number of ballistic missile tests in the past year, in a demonstration of their ability to hit targets at both short and long ranges, prompting Seoul to strengthen relations with its main military allies.
“God bless our alliance,” Yoon concluded, to cheers from members of the Senate and House of Representatives, who then asked him to sign copies of his speech.
Strengthening the Indo-Pacific
The South Korean president has focused his six-day official visit to Washington on the need for his country, the United States and other allies in the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen their diplomatic and military positions in the event of a conflict in the area.
“Along with close coordination between South Korea and the United States, we need to accelerate trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear threats,” Yoon said in his speech.
The trip was sealed with the signing of the Washington Declaration, a bilateral consultation mechanism through which the Biden government promises to make its plans clear to Seoul in the event of a North Korean attack.
A much more aggressive approach
Yoon’s visit also served to agree far more aggressive deterrence measures than usual, such as the reinforcement of joint US-South Korean military training, and the periodic positioning of US nuclear submarines in South Korean waters, a decades-long exercise. without being done
Through these agreements, Biden tries not only to increase the operational capacity of his allies in the face of threats from North Korea, but also in the event of an attack by China against Taiwan.
Yoon, whose country has close trade ties with China, avoided mentioning the Asian giant when referring to regional threats.
Biden will host another of his Indo-Pacific allies next week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
With EFE and AP
