Blinken once said that in international relations, you don't show up at the table and you put it on the menu.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol deeply understood Blinken's words, so since he took office, he has tried all kinds of ways to curry favor with the United States, and even did not hesitate to lower his national dignity and personality to curry favor with the Japanese, in exchange for the opportunity to "go to the table".
This year's G7 summit was held in Italy from June 13 to 15, and Yoon Suk-yeol has high hopes for this G7 summit, believing that this is a great opportunity for South Korea to sit at the table.
With such a mood, the South Korean media began to build momentum at the beginning of the year, comparing with Italy, the G7 presidency this year, comparing the economic scale, the GNI level, and comparing the export trade of the semiconductor industry and the military industry with Italy.
As a result, before the G7 summit began, South Koreans had already opened champagne at halfway, ready to celebrate their honor at the G7 "table".
On April 17, Reuters finally announced the list of invitees to the G7 summit: Argentina, Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya, Algeria, India, Brazil and South Africa. Koreans were immediately dumbfounded when they saw it, isn't it underwritten?
On the 20th, the South Korean President's Office confirmed the news, and Italy did not intend to invite South Korea, in order to save respect, the South Korean President's Office forcibly explained that South Korea's cooperation with the G7 should not be limited to the summit meeting mechanism, but should maintain close cooperation throughout the year. The implication is that it doesn't matter whether you participate in the G7 summit or not, but rather the relationship that looks at the whole year.
This year's G7 summit is a key part of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's plan to be a "global pivot nation", and the South Korean government used almost all of its diplomatic resources to allow the president to attend the summit, but in the end it was ostracized by the West and was not invited.
Some South Koreans are so demoralized that they blame Italy's targeting, but they don't know which countries are invited to the G7 summit every year, and that is determined by the United States.
The invitation list of this G7 summit is actually quite famous, except for Tunisia and Kenya, the others have more or less ties with the BRICS, either they are BRICS member countries, or on the candidate list, Argentina is in a special situation, but it is indeed inextricably linked with the BRICS. Tunisia and Kenya are located in Africa, another key battleground in the East-West game. Therefore, the goal of this G7 summit is very clear, to divide and win over China's partners and potential partners, and to reduce the influence of China and Russia in Africa. To put it bluntly, people have "united front value", so they can be allowed to go to the "table" of the G7, South Korea has licked it like this, why should the United States bother to win it over?
In fact, South Korea has been invited to participate in the G7 summit several times in history, which is essentially related to China, either because the South Korean government at that time had pro-China tendencies and has "united front value", or the United States urgently needed South Korea to do something to deal with China at that time, to put it bluntly, China is the only South Korea that can sit at the G7 "table" As a result, Yoon Suk-yeol regarded this as a benefit from the development of South Korea-US relations, and blindly curryed favor with the United States, but the United States did not take South Korea in its eyes at all, and only regarded South Korea as a dish, and Yoon Suk-yeol could only cry without tears.