Ⓒ JoongAng Ilbo / JoongAng Ilbo Japanese version2022.05.05 15:39
Five days before the inauguration of South Korea’s president-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, a proposal to approve the US Ambassador to Korea, which had been vacant for 16 months, was passed by the US Parliament. On the 4th (local time), the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a vote against Philip Goldberg, who was appointed as the US Ambassador to Korea.
It is expected that the final approval procedure, the Senate plenary session, will pass safely without any major disagreement. In this case, the Senate will notify President Joe Biden that the approval process has been completed, and Mr Goldberg will be officially assigned. Senate leader Chuck Schumer of the US ruling Democratic Party plans to announce the time of the plenary session against Mr. Goldberg soon.
◆ Mr. Yoon’s inauguration ceremony will not be attended, will he be assigned before the summit meeting?
However, it is difficult for Mr. Goldburk to attend Mr. Yoon’s inauguration as the US ambassador to Korea due to lack of time. On this day, the Biden government released a list of congratulatory missions headed by Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris. The list also includes the name of Chargé d’Affaires Christopher del Corso to Korea.
It has been observed that if the plenary session is swiftly decided against Mr. Goldberg, he will be officially assigned before the Korea-US summit meeting on the 21st of this month. Considering the symbolism of the first summit meeting between Korea and the United States, which will be held 11 days after Mr. Yoon’s inauguration, it is expected that the US Congress will rush the related procedures.
The US Senate Foreign Policy Committee said on Twitter that it was “very important in promoting the interests of national security and foreign policy.”
◆ Sanctions expert against North that emphasizes CVID
Since the inauguration of the Biden government in January last year, the US ambassador to Korea has been vacant. Mr. Yoon has emphasized several times his position to strengthen Korea-US relations as a comprehensive strategic alliance, and the importance of the US ambassador to Korea has increased as North Korea’s armed provocation has continued recently.
Mr. Goldburk was nominated as a candidate for US ambassador to Korea on February 11, and went through a personnel inquiry on February 7. Goldberg, who is currently the US Ambassador to Colombia, is from an orthodox diplomat. From 2009 to 2010, when he was the Government of Barack Obama, he was the Coordinator for the United Nations Sanctions Implementation of the State Department. He then summed up the implementation of the first sanction “UN Resolution 1874”, which he specified CVID (complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization).
Mr. Goldburk is a sanctions expert on the North Korean issue and is classified as a hawk for North Korea. At a hearing last month, he called North Korea a “rogue regime” and said that the CVID principle was “a difficult target, but very consistent with the US non-proliferation target.”