By: Ethan Shen
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Washington on April 25th to reset South Korean relations by aligning the nation closer to the United States. President Yoon received a warm welcome in the United States, only to find a colder public in his own nation.
At Washington, Yoon addressed Congress, thanking Americans for their role in the Korean War and praising the countries that helped South Korea become the global powerhouse that it is now.
Now, President Yoon returns to a colder public that has punished him with lower approval ratings. In some cases, the public in South Korea has doubts about alienating China and threatening the country’s long history of diplomatic caution. South Korea has been caught in multiple diplomatic dilemmas. They are concerned with the nuclear crisis with North Korea and the increasing tension between the United States and China, with the former being its biggest military ally and the latter being a major trading partner.
Critics of this move say that President Yoon sacrificed relations with China for nothing, as the US nuclear policy hasn’t really changed as expected with the joint statement of the “Washington Declaration”.Even though US nuclear submarines will now start docking in South Korean ports, American presidents are still the sole authority that controls the use of nuclear weapons. Critics also say that the statement was a way to prevent the public from asking for South Korea’s own nuclear weapons and to prevent the redeployment of American nuclear weapons to the nation.
This is an unprecedented move, but we do live in unprecedented times. Now, South Korea is looking for the only guaranteed security - in nuclear deterrence- they can get.