In Seoul, Blinken Affirms Alliance Amid Challenges to Democracies
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The U.S. secretary of state aimed to show that his country stood by South Korea as it grapples with a political crisis, and as Donald J. Trump returns to power.
By Edward Wong and Choe Sang-Hun
The journalists reported from Seoul. Edward Wong is traveling with Antony J. Blinken on his final diplomatic trip, while Choe Sang-Hun has been covering the South Korean political crisis.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the foreign minister of South Korea, Cho Tae-yul, both acknowledged the challenges to democracy in their nations on Monday while asserting that the alliance between the countries remained strong despite ongoing political turmoil.
“Our relationship is bigger than any one leader, any one government, any one party,” Mr. Blinken said at a news conference with Mr. Cho, alluding to the change in leadership in both nations. The one in South Korea — in which the president was impeached after declaring martial law — took the world by surprise and is still playing out.
“I think what we’ve seen in our own country, as well as in other democracies that have faced challenges, there has been a response that has been openly transparent, that doesn’t pretend we don’t have problems or challenges, that confronts them, that confronts them directly,” Mr. Blinken added.
While Mr. Blinken met with South Korean officials, North Korea drew attention again to its growing nuclear missile threat by launching what the South Korean military called an intermediate-range ballistic missile off its east coast. North Korea last launched such a missile in April, followed by the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in October.
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Mr. Blinken said Russia intends to aid North Korea by sharing space and satellite technology with Pyongyang — and possibly accepting the nuclear weapons program, which would be a reversal of decades of policy. Mr. Blinken first spoke publicly last year of the potential technology sharing by Moscow.
