Investing in forward-looking Korea-U.S. alliance

By Song Kyung-jin

A Korean president's visit to Washington, D.C., always draws the heavy attention of the nation and those from all walks of life. The visit of President Yoon Suk Yeol to the United States raised the expectations of the Korean people as it was only the second state visit of the Biden-Harris administration and the first of such in 12 years for a Korean president, especially to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance.

The Leaders' Joint Statement seems an outcome of earnest deliberations on investing in a forward-looking Korea-U.S. alliance. The forward-looking Korea-U.S. alliance stands to benefit not just the two countries but also the global community by advancing democracy, economic prosperity, security and technological innovation. The Joint Statement stresses the importance of closer cooperation between the two countries on globally important issues beyond those confined to the Korean Peninsula. This has been much called for by the international community in recent years.

I concur with President Yoon and President Biden on seeing global development cooperation as a key way to advance global stability. The two leaders agreed to establish new institutional frameworks to strengthen Korea-U.S. development cooperation and beyond. It comes as great news and progress, for an institutional infrastructure imbues the agreed-upon cooperation with clearer mandates and continuity in policy formulation and implementation.

Bilateral development cooperation under such institutional frameworks can embrace and further strengthen cooperation in addressing the challenges in the Mekong sub-region, physical and digital infrastructure needs in the Indo-Pacific and Africa and the climate crisis. Given the pressing challenges, bilateral cooperation is constrained by its limited resources.

Regional plurilateral and multilateral arrangements are critical in making changes for the better. A range of arrangements can be thought of. Perhaps, a Korea-U.S.-India-Australia quadrilateral infrastructure partnership would be an example in this regard.

Such cooperation will have to bear two things in mind, apart from business as usual. First, it should ensure the participation of multilateral development banks (MDBs), as the principal mandates of MDBs are inseparable from those of development cooperation. Second, it should integrate gender perspectives to provide assistance with far-reaching impact. Anything on India is selling like hotcakes these days because of geopolitical tensions and the huge economic potential it airs with the world's largest population with a very big young population. But its potential will unlikely be met unless their youth, particularly the young female population, can find ways to get proper education and join the labor market.

The two presidents made the Joint Statement all the more relevant and forward-looking by paying due attention to their people-to-people ties and educational cooperation for future generations. In this context, they announced a new educational exchange initiative, jointly funded, to serve 2,023 Koreans and 2,023 Americans to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance. They emphasized that our mutual prosperity and global competitiveness depend on the ability to empower all people, particularly women, to participate in and contribute to the economy.

President Yoon and President Biden agreed on the establishment of a Next Generation Critical and Emerging Technologies Dialogue led by national security advisers of both countries. The new dialogue is expected to enhance public and private cooperation in semiconductors, batteries, quantum, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, medical products using AI and biomanufacturing. This new initiative is well in line with the critical and emerging technologies working group of the Quad and the discussion of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework where Korea is expected to make more contributions to the advancement of the discussions.

President Yoon's visit to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and MIT reaffirms his strong belief in the critical role of technologies in advancing the competitiveness of the nation. President Yoon should bear in mind that DARPA saw its heyday when there was a stream of sustained investments and that DARPA's history of achievements is a testament to the importance of making sustained long-term investments in research and development.

Korea and the United States also signed an agreement on space activities such as lunar exploration, Earth science, other space science activities and space communication and navigation. The space industry which includes space mineral exploration, space manufacturing and space tourism, is forecast to grow exponentially to the magnitude of $1.1 trillion in 2030 from $469 billion in 2021. The Korea Aerospace Administration soon to come will take up collaborative projects per the agreement and deliver the potential.

As mentioned in the Joint Statement, the two leaders are well aware of the concerns of Korean businesses over the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, thus they are much expected to present concrete measures to alleviate the concerns in due course.

I hope the Leaders' Joint Statement will prove to be a seminal document in investing in the future of and defining the next level of the Korea-U.S. alliance. Let's hit the road.

Dr. Song Kyung-jin (kj_song@hotmail.com) led the Institute for Global Economics (IGE), based in Seoul and served as special adviser to the chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Seoul G20 Summit in the office of the president. Now, she is the executive director of the Innovative Economy Forum.