Posted on 08/04/2022 3:53:40 AM PDT by FarCenter
President Yoon Suk-yeol spoke with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the phone, Thursday, opting for an alternative that dispelled worries he was snubbing the No. 3 official in the U.S. government by not meeting her in person.
Pelosi arrived in Seoul on Wednesday night following a controversial stop in Taiwan as part of her Asian trip.
According to Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo, Yoon and Pelosi spoke by phone for 40 minutes to discuss pending issues, such as North Korea's nuclear challenge and the alliance between Seoul and Washington.
Referring to Pelosi's visit to the Joint Security Area near the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, Yoon was quoted as saying, "Her visit will become a sign of deterrence between South Korea and the United States against North Korea." In response, Pelosi told Yoon the allies need to jointly build a free and open Indo-Pacific order, according to Kim.
The presidential office said the phone talks were also accompanied by five other members of Congress and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg.
Yoon is on a five-day summer vacation until Friday, so the presidential office said, Wednesday, the president had no plan to meet with Pelosi. The presidential office added that the U.S. side fully understood Yoon's situation.
But the presidential office changed its stance and announced that they would have a phone meeting. The announcement came as none of the senior officials of the Yoon administration had planned to hold a meeting with Pelosi, raising speculation that the South Korean government faced a dilemma amid the U.S.-Sino rivalry. The U.S. is a staunch ally of South Korea, while China is its largest trading partner.
The conjecture was further fueled by the fact that no one from the South Korean government was present at Osan Air Base to welcome Pelosi. According to Yoon's office, the protocol for her visit was coordinated between Pelosi's side and the National Assembly. But a media report said Pelosi was unhappy with the treatment, citing an official at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea.
She could have talked to him on the phone from WDC.
She would not have stopped in SK just for that. I think a meeting was cancelled.
That's either really good, or really, really bad.
I shouldn’t eat junk food. Especially late at night.
Reading this stuff gives me an uneasy feeling.
Might be those cheap potato chips....
The President of South Korea is a peer of Biden, not Pelosi. She tried to get a meeting with someone above her station, and failed.
Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, being easier to push around, accommodated her.
South Korea has trade ties with China that are extremely important.
NO ONE wants their fingerprints on her stunt!
BTW-Has anyone in the WH gone on record about the conduct of this media whore???
NO ONE wants their fingerprints on her stunt!
i was a little nervous reading this without my glasses... phew, that was close.
Snort, this whole trip and the circus surrounding it could have been handled at the outset over the phone.
How many tax dollars did it cost?
How many political issues has it set back?
She has no agenda, no mission, no plan. It’s a taxpayer funded junket to get her name in the record books for visiting as speaker. She’s out of here in a few short months, this was just a stunt.
The dizzy bitch made one hell of a carbon footprint just to make a phone call. Somebody show da bitch how to reach Taiwan by phone!
Now, if we can only get those braindead “81 million mail in voters” to pay taxes to help pay for Nanzi’s midterm political stunts.
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