US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host South Korean
President Moon Jae-in at the White House on June 29 and 30. It is the first
bilateral summit between two close allies after both countries got new
presidents. Trump took oath in January while Moon was elected only last month
after mid-term polls necessitated by the impeachment of former South Korean
President Park Geun-hye.
The meeting is expected to be eclipsed by three issues,
North Korea, China and the deployment of US missile defense system in South
Korea.
If the Trump administration had termed the visit of Chinese
President Xi Jinping to America in April historic, the expectation that China
will exert its influence to rein in North Korea was one of the major factors
apart from some trade deals signed that Trump said would help American
businesses and would create jobs. China is the only big market for North Korea
and it accounts for over two-thirds of total North Korean trade.
But that expectation has become frustration in just two
months. Donald Trump has realized that China will not help in reining in North
Korea which reflected in his tweet last week, "While I greatly appreciate
the efforts of President Xi and China to help with North Korea, it has not
worked out. At least I know China tried!" But what belies this line that
"he knows that China at least tried" is the fact* that out of growing
frustration over the Chinese inaction on North Korea and bilateral ties, Trump
is thinking to take punitive action by imposing tariff on imports like Chinese
steel.
North Korea has already conducted almost a dozen missile
tests this year and is preparing to conduct another nuclear test aimed at
producing nuclear weapons. The threat from the rogue state has reached to new
heights under the present dictator Kim Jong-un so much so that the US had to
deploy its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile
defense system, inviting strong Chinese protests which sees the presence of the
system on the Korean peninsula, in its backyard, breach of its sovereignty and
a security threat. China has been lashing out at the US and South Korea for it.
And the optics of its deployment has also been a thorny
issue for Trump as well as for Moon. While Trump has demanded South Korea pay
$1 billion for THAAD deployment, Moon has termed the system which went live
last month a total failure of democracy.
While campaigning, Moon who is seen as a liberal having soft
approach towards China, South Korea's largest trading partner, and having a
conciliatory tone towards North Korea, had promised to review the THAAD
agreement by his predecessor. Moon, in fact, ordered a probe last month after it
emerged that four more missile launchers were added to the THAAD system in
South Korea. South Korea maintains that the US asked only for land and support
infrastructure for THAAD deployment and all other cost was to be borne by the
US only.
©SantoshChaubey
