For many years, South Korea has been some of the essential U.S. allies in Asia — not solely as a result of practically 30,000 American troops are stationed there, however as a result of it stands as a beacon of democracy in a area the place highly effective authoritarian nations vie with democratic ones.
President Biden has put a particular emphasis on South Korea, selecting it as the primary non-U.S. web site for his annual worldwide conclave, the Summit for Democracy. And in 2023, he hosted President Yoon Suk Yeol for a state dinner on the White Home, the place the tuxedo-clad Mr. Yoon sang “American Pie” to an adoring viewers. Mr. Biden has additionally relied on Mr. Yoon to supply munitions for Ukraine’s protection in opposition to the Russian invasion.
Now, with Mr. Yoon imposing martial regulation after wildly accusing the opposition get together of conspiring with North Korea to undermine him, the American alliance with South Korea faces its largest take a look at in a long time. And Mr. Biden, who has used democracy versus autocracy as a defining framework of his international coverage, must make onerous decisions on methods to deal with the disaster, after years of cultivating relations with Mr. Yoon, a conservative chief, and enhancing army ties to raised counter China, North Korea and Russia.
Mr. Yoon’s transfer appeared to catch the Biden administration abruptly.
On Tuesday afternoon in Washington, hours after Mr. Yoon made his stunning announcement, the White Home Nationwide Safety Council launched a terse assertion, utilizing an abbreviation for South Korea’s formal title, the Republic of Korea: “The administration is in contact with the R.O.K. government and is monitoring the situation closely as we work to learn more. The U.S. was not notified in advance of this announcement. We are seriously concerned by the developments we are seeing on the ground in the R.O.K.”
Officers stated that aides had briefed Mr. Biden, who was visiting Angola.
There was hypothesis in Washington that Mr. Yoon might need chosen this second as a result of the U.S. authorities is in a transition from the Biden administration to the second Trump one, and since Mr. Biden is abroad. Mr. Yoon, a first-term president who barely gained the 2022 election, has a low approval ranking amongst South Korean residents, and his transfer in opposition to the opposition get together and the legislature has echoes of the hassle by Donald J. Trump to stop Mr. Biden from taking workplace after he gained the 2020 election.
At a U.S.-Japan diplomatic occasion in Washington, Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state and former Asia adviser to Mr. Biden, stated that “our alliance with the R.O.K. is ironclad, and we stand by Korea in their time of uncertainty.”
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