President Park Geun Hye is to visit the United States early next month at the invitation of President Barack Obama. The trip, which begins in New York on May 5th, will be her first since she took office in February. She will then move from New York to Washington for a summit with Obama on May 7th.
The North Korean nuclear issue and other pressing Korean Peninsula concerns are set to be at the top of the bilateral agenda. According to the Blue House, President Park’s office, “In light of the current circumstances on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea-U.S. cooperation is now more important than ever. In that sense, the meeting is extremely meaningful.” In a statement, President Obama’s office noted that the two leaders will “discuss a broad range of economic and security issues, including continued cooperation on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and countering the North Korean threat.”
At the same time, South Korea is expected to seek ongoing U.S. support for Park’s “Korean Peninsula trust process,” which has gotten off to an extremely inauspicious start as the North Korean regime of Kim Jong Eun continues to pursue external tensions. They are also set to discuss the last 60 years of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and consider how to move alliance relations forward.
