US President Joe Biden is expected in Asia on Friday, where he wants to reaffirm US ambitions, but the shadow of a possible North Korean nuclear test will hang over his trip.
• Also read: North Korea ‘ready for nuclear test’
• Also read: ‘Real possibility’ of North Korean nuclear test while Biden is in Asia
The 79-year-old Democrat, who sees the US confrontation with China as the major geopolitical issue of the coming years, is traveling to the region for the first time as President. He will arrive in South Korea on Friday before heading to Japan on Sunday.
The United States believes there is a “real possibility” that North Korea will conduct “another missile launch” or “nuclear test” during the trip.
Despite the recent wave of COVID-19 in the country, “preparations for a nuclear test are complete and they are just looking for the right time” to conduct it, South Korea’s MK Ha Tae-keung told reporters, citing information from the Seoul Nationaler Intelligence.
South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol told reporters Friday Biden’s trip was an opportunity to make Seoul-Washington ties “stronger and more inclusive.”
“I am convinced that the alliance between South Korea and the United States aimed at upholding the values of democracy and human rights can only improve in the future,” he said, tweeting hours before Mr. Biden’s arrival.
Joe Biden will meet the South Korean and Japanese leaders and attend a meeting in Tokyo of the Quad, that diplomatic format he would like to revive and that brings together the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
Taiwan and North Korea
The United States wanted to “validate the picture of what the world can be when the world’s democracies and open societies come together to dictate the rules of the game” to American “leadership,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, aboard the Air Force One.
“We believe this message will be heard in Beijing. But it’s not a negative message and it’s not just for one country,” Sullivan said.
China and Taiwan will still be on everyone’s lips.
CIA director Bill Burns recently claimed that China is “closely following” the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will learn about the “costs and consequences” of a violent takeover of the Ukrainian island.
The White House has made it clear that the American President will not go to the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, where Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a spectacular meeting in 2019, but which has not changed the situation .
Nuclear test threat
The Biden administration has repeatedly unsuccessfully said it is ready to talk with North Korea, despite the latter’s increased missile launches since the beginning of the year.
Seoul and Washington expect Pyongyang to resume nuclear tests immediately after conducting six between 2006 and 2017.
According to US intelligence, there is a “real possibility” that North Korea will opt for a “provocation” after Joe Biden arrived in Seoul on Friday, his administration said before leaving Washington.
That could mean “new missile tests, long-range missile tests, or a nuclear test, or both” before, during, or after Mr. Biden’s tour of the region, Jake Sullivan said.
And this as the country faces a worsening coronavirus epidemic, with the number of cases now exceeding 1.7 million, according to official press.
A North Korean nuclear test would result in “adjustments to the deployment of our armed forces in the region,” Jake Sullivan said.
However, he denied that such an event would be seen as a setback for Joe Biden’s diplomacy. “It would underscore one of the most important messages we send on this journey, which is that America stands up for our allies and partners.”
In any case, North Korea will follow the outcome of Saturday’s Yoon-Biden meeting very closely, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, adding that “Depending on the outcome, North Korea will decide whether to accelerate its weapons programs or not.” should slow down.