The "sky" of Korea has changed completely!
In just half a year, Park Geun-hye was released from prison, Yoon Seok-wook was elected, Moon Jae-in stepped down, the "Blue House Era" ended on May 9, and South Korea also ushered in a new "Yongsan Era".
Is such a change a blessing or a curse for Seoul, neighboring countries, and allied states?
On May 18, through the three aspects of South Korea, you may be able to get a glimpse.
First of all, in terms of economy, the "anti-China economic framework" is about to come out, and South Korea will become one of the "founding countries".
On the 18th, the South Korean Presidential Office released a message that South Korean President Yoon Seok-yue will attend the summit announcing the establishment of the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)" through video link on the 24th.
This means that South Korea, which has just undergone a presidential transition, will join the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" as an "initial member", which is a multilateral economic cooperation mechanism created by the United States.
Its significance is indeed not ordinary.
First, after Trump withdrew from the TPP, Biden revived the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", but it lacks the economic pillars that can envelop all countries, and the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" is both to make up for shortcomings and to serve the United States.
Second, the framework has a "killer skill", and its core content is to establish a supply chain of strategic materials such as "semiconductors" to consolidate the dominance of the United States in the global semiconductor industry and further strengthen its scientific and technological hegemony.
Third, this organization, which binds the interests of the United States and its allies, is undoubtedly an "anti-China alliance," because U.S. Ambassador to Japan Emmanuel has made it clear that the United States will never be able to absorb China to join!
Because of this, Yin Xiyue's government regarded joining the organization as the top priority of "new officials taking office", which inevitably made neighboring countries look at it.
Of course, the so-called "soldiers will block, water will cover", the United States is not the first time to pull a small circle, the Trump administration has used the "trade war" to prove one thing: anti-globalization is unpopular, engaging in "camp confrontation" will only become a tool for Washington to maintain hegemony.
After seeing this clearly, and then looking at this economic framework, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, we can actually find many problems.
First, is the United States trustworthy? At that time, Obama strongly supported the "Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)", but Trump "withdrew from the group" for the first time after taking office, pitting a number of allies, who can guarantee that the US government will no longer renege on its promises?
Don't forget, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned: "It can be dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but it is indeed fatal to become a friend of the United States." ”
Second, can the "Indo-Pacific economic framework" really become a "club" for Indo-Pacific countries? On May 12, the U.S.-ASEAN special summit was held, and the Biden administration's "sluggishness" and "cutting the door" have opened the eyes of ASEAN countries.
With just three hours of heads of state meeting and $150 million in investment assistance, it is clear that the Indo-Pacific Positive Framework will not attract ASEAN. Malaysian Trade and Industry Minister Azmin has publicly stated that the RCEP represents a greater and more immediate opportunity.
Third, this is not the first time that the United States has "drawn a big pie", and if South Korea believes that the mechanism can provide more opportunities, it must be careful to "help count the money when it is sold."
More importantly, South Korea is likely to be "shot at". Three days later, Yoon Seok-yue will hold a south Korean-US summit with Biden, and Washington is afraid that the "lion will open its mouth" and put forward many conditions.
Next, let's talk about the military aspect, the ROK-US coalition army has set up a new force, and the US military stationed in South Korea has been "turned over the old account"!
On the 18th, the US military in South Korea announced the establishment of a helicopter gunship unit, and the unit will be a fixed deployment unit. Under the current situation on the peninsula, this move by the ROK-US coalition forces is inevitably suspected of aggravating tensions.
It is worth noting that the US military in South Korea just deployed 24 new Apache helicopter gunships in February this year, which is also the first time that the new gunship has been deployed outside the US mainland.
It is not difficult to see that rok-US military cooperation is still "sound and colorful," of course, provided that the Seoul side does not open its mouth on the matter of "recovering the command in wartime."
Speaking of which, according to the "pro-US" nature of the Yoon Seok-yue government, ROK-US military cooperation is certainly promising. The fixed deployment of a new unit means that South Korea needs to increase capital investment, and the daily maintenance and replacement of helicopter gunships are not cheap.
However, does the US military in South Korea deserve such "favoritism" from the South Korean government?
Just two days ago, South Korean media exposed that the "Yongsan US Military Base" next to the new presidential palace in South Korea and the former South Korean Ministry of National Defense building was found to exceed the standard carcinogen after testing.
According to survey data from the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, the total petroleum hydrocarbons in the region exceeded the standard by 29 times, and the carcinogens phenyl and phenol exceeded the standard by 3.4 times and 2.8 times, respectively.
This raises 3 questions.
1, the "culprit" of environmental pollution, of course, is the US military base personnel. As early as 2000, hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde-containing solutions were dumped here, causing toxic substances to enter the Han River directly, triggering protests in Seoul.
Now that South Korean public opinion has "turned over old accounts", how will the Yoon Seok Yue government appease the people?
2, Yongsan US military base has been moved, the original site is planned to build a 3 million square meters park, originally expected to open within the year. At present, the public is worried about environmental pollution, and whether and when the park is open may need to be considered again.
3, because the presidential palace has been relocated to the defense building next to the base, public opinion is also worried about the health of government workers. Coupled with the fact that the new presidential palace is not "integrated with living and office" like the Blue House, Yin Xiyue needs "traffic control" to commute here.
It also raises new debates: Should the presidential palace be moved back to the Blue House?
Finally, let's talk about the livelihood of the people in South Korea.
On the 18th local time, according to South Korea's "JoongAng Daily" reported that the price of eggs in the South Korean market is rising sharply, and the price of eggs in a box of 30 pieces is as high as 9,000 won, about 47 yuan.
The reasons for the price increase are complex, one is global inflation; the other is the rise in energy prices, which affects freight costs; the third is the rising price of raw materials in the context of the epidemic, such as packaging costs; and the fourth is the soaring international food prices after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, such as feed costs.
Of course, eggs are just a microcosm. In the first quarter of this year, 32 of South Korea's 35 necessities rose in price year-on-year, with an average increase of nearly 7%.
All kinds of indications show that the global food crisis is probably not far away, and how to ensure food security has become a common urgent issue in South Korea and even the international community.
In this context, the Yin Xiyue government should still pay more attention to the domestic people's livelihood and be less busy "offering courtesy" to the United States.