US State Department ‘Alliance with the Korean People’ Chinese Ambassador to Korea ‘Trust the Korean People’ Diplomatic Subject ‘People’
In response to the martial law situation in Korea, the US State Department defined the ROK-US alliance as an ‘alliance with the Korean people’ and the Chinese Ambassador to Korea stated that all citizens are the diplomatic subject with ‘trust in the Korean people’.
On the 14th, the White House formalized the ‘ROK-US alliance’ as an ‘alliance of democracy and rule of law’ and confirmed the gap with the ‘alliance of freedom’ that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration put forward at the ROK-US summit.
On the 3rd, the Yoon administration attempted to ‘take control of the National Assembly under martial law to protect free Korea’ and showed a shift in national identity to ‘liberalism’ as an extreme right-wing system of ‘expansion of freedom’.
On the 16th, Chinese Chargé d’Affaires to Korea Pan Kung stated in his speech at the ROK-China friendship event that he “trusted the Korean people” regarding the martial law situation on the 3rd and “was the fastest embassy in Korea to announce that normal life would be possible immediately after martial law was lifted.”
Ambassador Pankun said about “trust”, “It is because I fully understand and trust the Korean people,” and “The two countries should keep pace with the times as strategic partners.”
In a briefing on the 16th, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in response to a question about the impeachment of the South Korean president, “That alliance is not just an alliance between presidents. It is an alliance between governments and an alliance between peoples.”
In a press release on the 14th, the US State Department stated, “US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with South Korean Acting President Han Duck-soo on the 14th and reaffirmed the strong alliance between the two countries,” and “President Biden highly praised South Korea’s ‘resilience to democracy and the rule of law’ and reaffirmed America’s ironclad commitment to the South Korean people,” officially confirming the alliance as a ‘democratic alliance.’
In his congratulatory speech at the South Korea-China Friendship Night co-hosted by the South Korea-China Cultural Association at the Baekbeom Memorial Hall on that day, Chinese Deputy Ambassador Pan Kung said, “China-South Korea relations are neighbors who cannot move.”
Lee Jong-geol, the chairman of the Korea-China Cultural Association (former Democratic Party member), said, "The association was launched 80 years ago in Korea and China through exchanges in the anti-Japanese movement, and the association contributed to the exchange of personal letters between the leaders of Korea and China 30 years ago when diplomatic relations were established." He added, "It will also contribute to economic development by promoting friendship and activating exchanges between Korea and China."
Masahisa Sato, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, said on BS NTV's "Deep News" on the 16th, "Until President Yoon declared martial law on the 3rd, the outlook for Korea-Japan relations was strong enough for Prime Minister Ishiba to visit Korea and 'welcome President Yoon as a state guest,'" and said that President Yoon's suspension from office "had a huge impact on Japan."
Ambassador-designate Glass is the founder of MGG Development LLC, an investment bank, and a real estate businessman who purchases and operates large apartment complexes and rental housing.
Voice of America (VOA) reported on the 17th that “he is also known as a supporter who has donated large sums of money to President-elect Trump since the 2016 presidential election, and he served as ambassador to Portugal from 2017 to 2021 during the first Trump administration, and the eldest of his three sons lived in Japan, as recorded in a document submitted by Glass to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July 2017.”
VOA continued, "While serving as ambassador to Portugal, nominee Glass took a hard-line stance against China. In March 2020, when the COVID-19 situation was at its peak, he wrote an article in a local Portuguese newspaper accusing China of propaganda that shifted responsibility for the pandemic to the United States." "He criticized China's deepening intervention in Portugal's strategy through companies including Huawei, and opposed Huawei's participation in the country's 5G mobile communications business. He also warned that Portugal would stop exporting natural gas from the United States if it entrusted the construction of its main ports to a Chinese company."
On the 16th, US President-elect Trump wrote on his Truth Social account, "I will appoint George Glass, a businessman and former ambassador to Portugal, as the new administration's ambassador to Japan," and "George will demonstrate his business acumen."
On the 17th, Yomiuri reported, "Glass is a major donor to Trump and helped fund his 2016 and this year's presidential campaigns," and "He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1989 and ran an investment bank, and is said to be well-versed in finance, real estate, and science and technology."
The New York Times reported on the 16th that “President Yoon Seok-yeol has changed the direction of Korean diplomacy to an extent that no other leader has ever done,” and that “he has sung the praises of Western values such as freedom and credited Korea’s rise to the global economic and cultural powerhouse with its alliance with the United States. He has brought Korea more actively into the international arena, criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “violation of international law” and selling weapons and ammunition to countries supporting Ukraine, and has opposed China’s “illegal maritime claims” in the Indo-Pacific region, a country that South Korea has long feared as a bully but needs as a trading partner.”
The New York Times continued, “Now that he is stepping down from power after impeachment, he faces the prospect of his foreign policy and Washington’s painstakingly built alliances in Northeast Asia collapsing.” “President Yoon was not impeached because of his foreign policy, but his greatest legacy, his diplomatic agenda, could be one of the biggest casualties of his downfall.”
Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a regular briefing on the 16th, “We have paid attention to the recent changes in South Korean politics. This (impeachment) is South Korea’s internal affair, so I will not comment.” He added, “We hope that South Korea will face China and make active efforts to deepen the friendly and cooperative and strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries. Safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is in the common interests of the relevant parties. The relevant parties need to make active efforts to this end.”