Sep 29(ABC): US Vice President Kamala Harris was in South Korea Thursday to tour the heavily fortified border with the nuclear-armed North, on a trip aimed at strengthening the security alliance with Seoul.
Pyongyang conducted two banned ballistic missile launches in the days before Harris’s arrival, part of a record-breaking streak of weapons tests this year.
Speaking ahead of her meeting with South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol, Harris said the countries’ alliance was “a linchpin of security and prosperity on the Korean peninsula”.
“I’m here to reinforce the strength of our alliance and strengthen our work together,” she added.
Washington stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to help protect it from the North, and the allies are conducting a large-scale joint naval exercise this week in a show of force against the North.
Harris’ trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is likely to infuriate Pyongyang, which branded United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the “worst destroyer of international peace” when she visited the border in August.
Harris arrived in Seoul after a trip to Japan, where she attended the state funeral of assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe, before telling US troops that America would operate “undaunted and unafraid” throughout Asia, including the Taiwan Strait.
Security issues were set to dominate her meeting with Yoon, although Seoul also planned to raise its concerns over a new law signed by US President Joe Biden that removes subsidies for electric cars built outside America, impacting Korean automakers such as Hyundai and Kia.
Harris, America’s first woman vice president, will also meet what the White House called “groundbreaking women leaders” of South Korea to discuss gender equality issues.
Yoon, who has pledged to abolish Seoul’s Ministry of Gender Equality, has faced domestic criticism for a lack of women in his cabinet.
