Experts: New ROK envoy should build trust

Leading Chinese scholars said Seoul should effectively tackle its trust deficit with Beijing by managing damage control over security issues as the Republic of Korea’s next ambassador to China is expected to assume his office in Beijing next month.

Noh Young-min, a former lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, will be officially appointed as the ambassador this week, and he will arrive in Beijing in mid-October, the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.

Known as a close aide to new ROK President Moon Jaein, Noh will assume the diplomatic post at a time when twoway ties remain chilly because of the deployment of the US THAAD anti-missile system in the ROK, analysts said.

Last month, Noh was tapped by Moon as the next top envoy to China. He played a key role in Moon’s election campaign this year, Yonhap News said.

Yu Shaohua, director of the Department for Asia-Pacific Security and Cooperation Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the arrival of a new ambassador does not necessarily lead to decisive improvement of a relationship, but it is “at least a good chance as he is the first ambassador to China dispatched by the new administration”.

It is unlikely Seoul will make remarkable achievements in diplomacy or major tweaks of policy toward China because it is faced with mounting pressures from Washington as well as from within the country, Yu said.

Zhang Liangui, an expert on Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said: “The new ambassador is fully trusted by his president. They will have greater efficiency in communication and he will be a good conveyor of messages.”

Noh’s connections in China and his understanding of the country will also help in his new mission, Zhang added.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this month with his ROK counterpart, Kang Kyungwha, in New York. Wang said China urges the ROK to handle the THAAD issue in a swift and proper manner to remove a stumbling block in ties.

Kang said Seoul is willing to strengthen communication with China to find a proper solution to the THAAD issue and promote the recovery of bilateral relations.

Zhang, the expert in Korean studies, said that “both Beijing and Seoul have realized that it will not be a good thing if the chilly side of the ties continues impacting bilateral economic and trade cooperation”.

The top priority for Seoul is to sit down and talk about ways to minimize the threat posed to China by the THAAD system, Zhang said.