Biden pushes economic, security issues in SKorea
President touts pledge by Hyundai, visits military base
SEOUL, South Korea — President Joe Biden tended to both business and security interests Sunday as he wrapped up a three-day trip to South Korea, first showcasing Hyundai’s pledge to invest at least $10 billion in the United States and later mingling with troops at a nearby military base.
Biden’s visit to Osan Air Base, where thousands of U.S. and South Korean service members monitor the rapidly evolving North Korean nuclear threat, was his final stop before he arrived in Tokyo later Sunday.
“You are the front line, right here in this room,” the president said in a command center with maps of the Korean Peninsula projected across screens on a wall.
It was a day that brought together two key messages that Biden is trying to project during his first trip to Asia as president.
At a time of high inflation and simmering dissatisfaction at home, Biden emphasized his global mission to strengthen the American economy by convincing foreign companies like Hyundai to launch new operations in the United States. And he wanted to demonstrate solidarity with nervous Asian allies who live in the shadow of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and grew skeptical of U.S. security commitments while former President Donald Trump was in office.
Earlier Sunday, Biden brushed aside questions about any possible provocation by North Korea, such as testing a nuclear weapon or ballistic missile during his trip, saying, “We are prepared for anything North Korea does.”
Asked if he had a message for the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, Biden offered a clipped response: “Hello. Period.”
It was another sharp departure from Trump, who once said he “fell in love” with Kim.
Biden’s first appearance of the day was alongside Hyundai chairman Eusiun Chung to highlight the company’s expanded investment in the U.S., including $5.5 billion for an electric vehicle and battery factory in Georgia.
“Electric vehicles are good for our climate goals, but they’re also good for jobs,” Biden said. “And they’re good for business.”
Chung also said his company would spend another $5 billion on artificial intelligence for autonomous vehicles and other technologies.
Hyundai’s Georgia factory is expected to employ 8,100 workers and produce up to 300,000 vehicles annually, with plans for construction to begin early next year and production to start in 2025 near the unincorporated town of Ellabell.
Biden passed on visiting the demilitarized zone on the North and South’s border, a regular stop for U.S. presidents when visiting Seoul. Biden had visited the DMZ as vice president and was more interested in seeing Osan Air Base, said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
While on base, Biden chatted with the troops and their families at the bowling alley and indulged his passion for ice cream — twice over. First chocolate chip, then vanilla and chocolate.
During the Japan leg of Biden’s trip, he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday and lay out his vision for negotiating a new trade agreement, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
Biden is expected to come out with a list of nations that will join the long-anticipated Indo-Pacific trade pact, but Taiwan won’t be among them.
Sullivan confirmed that Taiwan isn’t among the governments signed up for the launch of the pact that’s meant to allow the U.S. to work more closely with key Asian economies on issues such as supply chains, digital trade, clean energy and anticorruption. Inclusion of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, would have irked Beijing.
“We are looking to deepen our economic partnership with Taiwan including on high technology issues, including on semiconductor supply,” Sullivan said. “But we’re pursuing that in the first instance on a bilateral basis.”
Soon after arriving in Tokyo on Sunday, Biden stopped by the U.S. chief of mission’s residence to take part in a room dedication for Norman Mineta, the late U.S. transportation secretary.
Mineta, a former Democratic congressman who served in the Cabinets of both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, died earlier this month. He was the son of Japanese immigrants, and he and his family were among those held by the U.S. government in Japanese interment camps during World War II.
On Tuesday, Japan hosts Biden at a summit for the Quad, a four-country strategic alliance that also includes Australia and India. The U.S. president will then return to Washington.