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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin hold a joint press conference after their talks in Seoul on Nov. 9, 2023.
Blinken comes home, Biden gears up for Xi
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrapped up a tour of Asian nations last week, as the United States worked to shore up support for its positions on issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s increased belligerence toward Taiwan, and the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.
On Thursday, Blinken met with South Korean officials including President Yoon Suk-yeol. The two countries reportedly aligned on their approach in the three arenas of conflict. According to South Korean intelligence reports, the matters are closely related. During a closed-door briefing to lawmakers last week, South Korea’s main spy agency said it believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un instructed officials to “comprehensively support” Palestinians and that the North could be considering selling weapons to terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
Then it was off to New Delhi, where Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with their Indian counterparts and engaged on a host of issues including a diplomatic dispute between India and Canada over the alleged assassination by Indian forces of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil, and increased hostilities on the border of India and China.
Blinken’s tête-à-têtes came on the heels of the G7 summit in Tokyo on Nov. 7 and 8, where Japanese and British defense ministers reiterated their preference for a two-state solution in the Middle East. The G7 later issued a joint statement that also condemned “destabilizing activities” by Iran and called on Tehran to de-escalate tensions in the region.
Blinken’s tour comes ahead of the first meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in over a year, set for this week in San Francisco. While significant, expectations for agreement and action are low. “We’re not talking about a long list of outcomes or deliverables,” a senior administration official told reporters at a press conference last week. “The goals here really are about managing the competition, preventing the downside risk of conflict, and ensuring channels of communication are open.”
The two leaders’ agenda includes military communications, human rights, and the South China Sea. According to Eurasia Group Analyst Anna Ashton, much of the focus will be on Taiwan's presidential election, set for Jan. 13. “The candidate most likely to win based on current polling is Lai Ching-te, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party who draws support from Taiwan's most dedicated independence activists. That brings us to a second watchpoint in May, when Taiwan’s next president will be inaugurated,” says Ashton. And to another potential flashpoint for tensions between China and the US.
Workers carry boxes of bread loaves at a bakery in Beirut, Lebanon.
Hard Numbers: Lebanon’s bread crisis, US prices soar, Boris Johnson fined, Koreans start from zero
8.5: Prices for goods and services in the US have grown 8.5% over the past year, the largest annual increase since the early 1980s. Rising costs for food, housing, and fuel drove the increase, which is taxing households and shaping up to be a major problem for President Joe Biden and the Democrats as they head into midterm elections this fall.
50: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other top officials will be fined for breaking pandemic lockdown laws by holding parties at government buildings while ordinary Brits were prohibited even from visiting dying relatives in hospital. British authorities say more than 50 violations of the rules were confirmed.
1: Everyone in South Korea is about to get one year younger – on paper at least. To harmonize his country’s records with those in the rest of the world, president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol wants to do away with the current system in which South Koreans are aged “1” when they are born.
The two Koreas: Insights from veteran Korea correspondent Jean Lee
Veteran Korea correspondent and former AP Pyongyang bureau chief Jean Lee discusses the two Koreas with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World. From K-Pop supergroup BTS to Oscar-winner Parasite to Netflix global sensation Squid Game, South Korea seems to be churning out one massive cultural hit after another. And North Korea is taking notice.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: The Korean Peninsula from K-Pop to Kim Jong-un
Subscribe to GZERO on YouTube to be the first to see new episodes of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: https://bit.ly/2TxCVnY
South Korea's delicate US-China balancing act
South Korea is a close US ally, but also shares a border and does a lot of trade with China, so it's always walking a tightrope between Washington and Beijing. The South Koreans, says veteran Korea correspondent Jean Lee, are worried about growing US-China competition — but there's not much they can do about it. "We can't choose. We live next to China, we have lived next to China for millennia, but we are a staunch US ally," she explains. "I think there's no question that their loyalty lies with the United States, but it's very clear as well that so much of their financial future lies with China as well. Watch a clip of Lee's interview with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
Watch this episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: The Korean Peninsula from K-Pop to Kim Jong-un
Subscribe to GZERO on YouTube to be the first to see new episodes of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer: https://bit.ly/2TxCVnY
Podcast: A tale of two Koreas with veteran Korea journalist Jean Lee
Listen: From K-Pop supergroup BTS to Oscar-winner Parasite to Netflix global sensation Squid Game, South Korea seems to be churning out one massive cultural hit after another. And North Korea is taking notice. This week, a tale of two very different Koreas. Jean Lee, former AP Pyongyang bureau chief and veteran Korea correspondent, speaks with Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.
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People watch a TV broadcasting file footage of a news report on North Korea firing what appeared to be a pair of ballistic missiles off its east coast, in Seoul, South Korea, September 15, 2021.
What We’re Watching: Korea vs Korea, Taliban vs Taliban, Haitian PM vs top prosecutor
North and South Korea trade barbs and missile tests: Just hours after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea on Wednesday, the South responded by conducting its own first successful test of a submarine-launched ballistic projectile, with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in boasting that it would deter the North's "provocations." Then Kim Yo Jong, the fiery sister of North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, responded to the South's response by threatening to cut all bilateral ties. Although bombastic statements by the Kims are nothing new, things are heating up. With US-led denuclearization talks stalled, Pyongyang carried out its first weapons test in six months a few days ago. Kim may be upping the ante deliberately right now, betting that after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Joe Biden is keen to avoid another foreign policy embarrassment on his watch. Maybe this time Joe will pick up the phone?
Taliban infighting: Barely a week after forming a government, senior Taliban leaders are fighting again... with each other. On Tuesday, deputy PM Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who led the group's peace negotiations in Doha and considered conciliatory (by Taliban standards), had a shouting match with the battle-hardened refugees minister over whether diplomats or insurgents should get most of the credit for the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Supporters of both sides then brawled in Kabul's presidential palace, where officials now show up to work fully armed, before cooler heads prevailed. The Taliban, for their part, deny there was any argument at all, but it's hard to believe a group that in 2015 admitted covering up the death of its own leader for two years. The Taliban's spiritual leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, could put an end to the bickering, but he has yet to be seen in public despite technically having the final say on all political, military and religious affairs in Taliban-run Afghanistan.
Haitian PM cans prosecutor: The Haitian special prosecutor investigating the July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse made an astounding accusation earlier this week: current PM Ariel Henry was involved in the crime. In response, Henry announced that he had "the pleasure" of firing the investigator, allegedly for administrative errors. The move, which may be unconstitutional — because only presidents have the power to hire or fire prosecutors — deepens the acute political crisis that has gripped Haiti since Moïse's killing. Henry, who took power amid confusion about the proper succession to Moïse, brokered an agreement last weekend among the country's warring political forces to form a transitional government until a fresh election and constitutional referendum can be held early next year. But sacking the prosecutor may shake things up again. Complicating things further, Haiti is still reeling from last month's earthquake, which killed hundreds and thrust a gangster kingpin named "Barbecue" into the spotlight as a more reliable source of relief than the government itself.
The North Korea Conundrum
Are the U.S. and North Korea moving toward conflict or a lasting peace? This week Ian Bremmer goes deep on North Korea and talks to the man who was nearly U.S. ambassador to South Korea, until the White House thought otherwise. And on Puppet Regime, everyone is gearing up for the U.S. midterm elections. Especially Vladimir Putin.
The French Connection
Trump and Macron. Moon and Kim. Love, it seems, is in the air. Sure is preferable to nuclear fallout.
On the show this week we cover these budding romances and sit down with NPR All Things Considered cohost, and veteran intelligence reporter, Mary Louise Kelly.
Allons-y!