US directly asks S. Korea to join economic coalition that excludes China
China's Premier Li Keqiang (centre), alongside Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in at the 8th trilateral leaders' meeting between China, South Korea and Japan in Chengdu, China, on Dec 24, 2019. PHOTO: AFP. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
SEOUL, Jun 8, 2020, Hankyoreh. The US gave the South Korean government an explanation about the Economic Prosperity Network (EPN), which is supposed to be an economic coalition of its allies that excludes China, and asked Seoul to take interest in the coalition, Hankyoreh reported.
This is the first time the US has brought up the EPN through governmental channels, suggesting that the US is going to start pressuring South Korea to join the EPN.
On June 5, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) disclosed that 2nd Vice Minister Lee Tae-ho had discussed the EPN during a telephone call that morning with Keith Krach, the US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment. But MOFA added that Krach didn’t provide any specifics about the EPN, which is still in the planning phase.
The EPN is part of an initiative to create a US-led economic coalition that would exclude China from the global economic supply network. The US hopes to persuade allied countries including South Korea, Japan, India, and Australia to join the plan.
Since the South Korean government must find a balance between the US and China, it’s bound to be reluctant to join an organization that so obviously represents an anti-China front. “We’ve taking a prudent approach to the EPN. There are several areas that we’ll need to examine, including our principles and our vision,” said an official with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two officials who spoke on the phone on Friday (Lee and Krach) are the top envoys to the Senior Economic Dialogue (SED), a high-level economic meeting between South Korea and the US. Lee and Krach agreed to organize the 5th SED session in person in the US in the second half of the year and to have bureau chiefs convene to carry out preliminary preparations.
“The Senior Economic Dialogue deals with all issues including economic cooperation between the two countries. We’ll have to see how concrete the EPN becomes, but the plan will obviously be discussed,” a MOFA official said.
By Kim So-youn
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