President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea speaks on the second session of the APEC financial leaders’ assembly held on Nov. 1, 2025, on the Gyeongju Hwabaek Worldwide Conference Heart. (Yonhap)
The tip of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in Gyeongju marked the conclusion of a vital, jam-packed week of diplomacy for South Korea, with the leaders of two superpowers — the US and China — each in attendance.
On the helm of the primary large-scale worldwide summit occasion hosted by South Korea in 20 years was President Lee Jae Myung, who cleared away financial and security-related uncertainties by wrapping up negotiations with the US whereas taking the primary steps to restore Seoul’s estrangement from Beijing. Lee additionally met with different leaders within the Asia-Pacific area and shored up belief aimed toward constructing a way forward for shared prosperity.
However many observers are saying the actual problem begins now as South Korea seeks to navigate the type of worst-case situation that it narrowly prevented by adopting a realistic deal with nationwide pursuits amid a quickly altering “new regular” within the international order.
“We did a reasonably good job of toughing issues out in a state of affairs the place the end result was by no means going to be 100% passable to us,” assessed Korea Nationwide Diplomatic Academy professor Jun Bong-geun on Sunday relating to the agreements reached on commerce and safety issues at a South Korea-US summit.
“For now, the fog has been cleared away,” he added, suggesting the outcomes may be seen positively as Lee having taken care of rapid uncertainties whereas sidestepping a worst-case situation in coping with US President Donald Trump, who is thought for unpredictability.
Alongside related traces, former KNDA Chancellor Hong Hyun-ik stated that Lee had “made the very best accessible alternative with out stalling for time in a world the place the ‘new regular’ is US overreach.”
The association reached on the largest challenge in regards to the fund for South Korean funding within the US — the place the whole of money funding was set at US$200 billion and capped at US$20 billion yearly — was roughly a practical compromise resolution. In different phrases, Seoul went for the next-best or least-worst choice below hegemonic commerce pressures from the Trump administration.
Commenting on this, Kim Joon-hyung, a former chancellor of the KDNA and present Rebuilding Korea Occasion lawmaker, stated that South Korea “might want to alter the tempo, frequency and depth of funding through the future implementation course of.”
Within the summit’s rapid wake, the US made claims that conflicted with the South Korean authorities’s announcement, together with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick’s insistence that semiconductor tariffs weren’t a part of the settlement. Kim’s remarks recommended that Seoul might want to undertake a agency stance as variations come up between the 2 sides within the implementation course of.
Observers equally rated Lee’s summit with Xi Jinping as a usually profitable first step, with the Chinese language president taking steps to restore relations on his first go to to South Korea in 11 years.
Seoul and Beijing have been on distant phrases owing to friction over the deployment of a US Terminal Excessive Altitude Space Protection (THAAD) antimissile system in Korea in 2016 and international insurance policies below the Yoon Suk-yeol administration that had been closely skewed towards the US.
Whereas the summit didn’t fulfill hopes for a second-phase improve to the 2 sides’ free commerce settlement or securing China’s particular help for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, analysts recommended this was greater than might be anticipated as a primary step. In line with sources, Xi and Lee appeared to get pleasure from a nice dialog at a closed-door dinner, the place they freely mentioned developments in bilateral relations.
What stays now’s the duty of translating that into concrete enhancements, together with the lifting of Chinese language restrictions on Korean cultural content material.
“Whereas relations with the US and Japan have considerably progressed and been established, we’re nonetheless engaged on restoring belief with China, so we should always strongly take into account a go to to China earlier than the tip of the 12 months,” Hong stated.
Some observers within the diplomatic world stated that for Lee’s “pragmatic diplomacy” to actually contribute to upholding the nationwide curiosity, he might want to deal with balanced diplomacy between China and the US now that Korea is again on observe to restoring its relationship with the previous and the latter continues to demand one-sided sacrifices from its allies.
One supply within the international affairs group harassed, “We have to keep away from the state of affairs the place we’re pressed to take sides because the competitors between the US and China intensifies, and that can require the knowledge to handle bilateral relations properly from the center floor.”
By Um Ji-won, workers reporter
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